Sector L5, Demon Hunters
by Ainnenoi Aurum
Summary: AU. There's a lot about the universe that humans don't know. L finds out exactly how much they're missing when Light's twin gets tired of waiting for her brother to get out of confinement and it all goes downhill from there. Starts cracky, goes serious.
1. Light's Boredom and Aryn's Plan

So, my bunny ran away from me while I was in the middle of writing Chapter 11, so I went back to read the beginning. And I realized that the beginning didn't fit at all with what is happening later in the story. Mostly just the tone, but yeah. It needed to change. So, you people are basically getting five chapters today!

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note, and never will. Not even if I fall through a dimensional hole and try to recreate it in the past, because I can't draw that well.

* * *

**Chapter 1 - Light's Boredom and Aryn's Plan**

Light Yagami-Arget-Suino was bored. He had been locked in this stupid cell for nearly a month, with nothing to do. Sure it was fun to mess with their heads by singing the 'Song That Never Ends' but that got tiresome quickly. So did 'I Know A Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves' and 'Henry the Eighth'. Even '99 Bottles' only lasted a day! 'Doom Song' annoyed him too much for him to actually sing it and all he little kid things just scared him deeply. And, to make it worse, Aryn wouldn't stop bugging him. She was feeling extremely smug and perky about something, and it was annoying him to no end.

He couldn't stand it when she decided to be perky and dense. One, it reminded him of Misa. He didn't want her in his head, by any means. Two, he couldn't deal with perky insane-o psychopaths. Regular insane-o psychopaths, sure. Hell, he freely admitted that he was one! But, something about the perkiness made his masks crumble, and made him want to act as weird as he usually was, which was bad when you are Kira.

Yes, the Death Note was not his anymore, but he remembered. Perk of specializing in mental magic. God, he hated the fact that he was a murderer. Again. The Death Note was from a Realm that Light had never heard of before, with a completely different type of magic than he was used to. Even a Fallen Seraphim, like Light, couldn't guard against something he didn't understand. A homicidal sentient notebooks were most definitely not something he understood.

But once he had given up the Note, he got control of his own mind back. Then, able to tell that something was clouding his memories of the last half a year or so, Light had swept away all the foreign magic, leaving him with his full memory. And he and the others had decided that they would alter the Note so that it couldn't be used in such a way again. After all, the next person to pick one up might not be able to break free at all.

He was really lucky to have such understanding friends. They had accepted the fact that he was Kira! Of course, the fact that they were kind of stuck together helped, and the fact that it wasn't really him. And all five of them had sworn that they would completely eradicate the killer presence inside the Death Notes. They refused to be responsible for the death of an entire race, however, so they would have to alter the Death Notes' purpose. After all, the five of them were responsible for the safety of all the humans from the non-humans. They couldn't let Shinigami kill people willy-nilly.

Light had no idea what they were going to do for the Shinigami however. Maybe make them feed off of people's laughter? And then change the Death Notes so they tickled people rather than killed them?

_Oh dear brother of mine!_ Aryn mind-sung to him, interrupting Light's rather odd musings, _Guess what I have for you?_

Light sighed._ I don't have any choice, do I?  
_  
Aryn giggled, sounding like a mix of his adopted sister and Misa. Scary thought that._ Nope! But I promise you'll like my surprise! Come on, it's not like it'll give you a heart attack or anything._

Light scowled._ Aryn! You know how I feel about what I've done. Please, don't joke about that.  
__  
I'm sorry._ Her joy diminished slightly before brightening up again. _Hey! Near's here! I'ma ask him to join the convo, kay?_

Of course. Light thought-said. Near was one of L-5 too, and one of five beings in the Realms to know that Light was Kira. Far be it from him to hide anything from one of his friends. Let alone Aryn's boyfriend.

A new voice joined the conversation.__

That is one of the best painting you have done, Aryn. Near stated, calm as ever, _The fangs on the bat's muzzle look quite evil._

Light yelped and fell off the bed that he was sitting on. (It was really annoying how often that happened, really.) _Aryn, he asked, Is that your surprise?_

Yep, yep! she chirped, _I finished your killer bat demon._  
_  
And may I just say, that food looks like it is actually rotting?_ Near's incredulous voice sounded, _How do you do it, Aryn? _  
_  
STOP THAT!!!!_ Light roared, anticipating what Aryn and Near were about to do, _Do _not_ make-out in my hearing. I don't need to be unable to escape._ Even though the two of them had been dating for almost three and a half years, Light was very uncomfortable with the thought of his twin sister and one of his best friends making out around him. Even just mentally.

Giggling filled his ears. God those two were immature when they cut loose. Not that he was much better when his masks were removed. Wait. She mentioned that Light's idea/drawing/commission-thing/bat-demon-eating-a-sprite/bodyguard-dude was finished. YAY!  


* * *

L frowned. Light had been acting strange for the last couple of weeks. He had been getting on the investigative team's collective last nerve.

First all those repetitive songs earlier this week, and trying to give himself a concussion for almost 24 hours straight before that. That had resulted in a padded room for Light. And now today.

First he was acting sour and gloomy, but that was to be expected in a prison where he had had nothing to do for the last month. Then he got annoyed at absolutely nothing, then he was exasperated at something L couldn't see, and then he fell off the bed. That was actually quite amusing. The main suspect for the first Kira appeared to have an inner ear problem.

And now he was dancing around the room singing something. L hoped to God it wasn't another never-ending song. Aizawa had threatened to quit if he had to listen to another minute of that, and Matsuda appeared to quite enjoy singing them. For a policeman, the man had a lot of problems. He didn't need any more ideas.

L clicked the audio button, a new addition to Light's cell due to that musical streak he appeared to have developed. Along with tone-deafness. It hurt to listen to the man!

Instantly, noise filled the room. But, surprisingly, it wasn't a Japanese bastardized version of American and British annoyance songs, it was a phrase, repeated over and over again. In English. The words were as followed: It's finished. Over and over again.

"Light-kun," L called, concerned for the teen L considered his only friend, even if said friend was his suspect. And again when Light ignored him. "Light-kun." Ah, now he was silent. "Light-kun, are you okay? What is finished? Is it anything I should know about?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm better than okay. In fact, get me to a computer in about an hour to two hours, and I'll show you exactly what is going on."

"Light-kun," L chided, "You know I cannot do that. You are a suspect for the true identity of Kira. I cannot allow you access to a computer."

The ecstatic light in Light's eyes dimmed and his jubilance quieted. L felt like the worst person in the world, but reminded himself sternly that Light was his suspect, and he had to be careful, as he did not know how Kira killed.

"Yeah," Light whispered, looking at the floor, "I know. It's just, I'd hoped that, if you...if you watch exactly what I'm doing the entire time, maybe, just maybe I could? I...I've been promised a picture from my American friend, and I just realized today is the day she promised to load it onto our shared account on an art website so I can retrieve it. She doesn't know about the fact that I may be Kira, and she is expecting me to call her about it. If you don't believe me, ask my father. Tell him...tell him that Aryn and Near are supposed to be uploading another picture in the Everlost series. He'll understand. He knows Aryn. So do Sayu and my mother."

L's eyes widened. How did Light know that name? Near was supposed to be at Wammy House with the others! "Light-kun..." L's voice faltered, even through the scrambled static voice. "How...how do you know that name?"

"What, Aryn? Well, I should sincerely hope that I know the name of my twin sister." Light said, dismissive of his lonely childhood.

"Not Aryn. I meant the name Near." L was slightly worried. Understandable, given that one of his three most promising heirs was known to Kira. (He did mark the fact that Light had a twin sister not mentioned in any of the papers that he had found regarding Light Yagami.)  


* * *

"Why do you want to know about Aryn's boyfriend?" Light crossed his arms and glared around the room at random, good sense (This was the leader of the Kira investigation!)(He couldn't act that childish!) warring with his healthy and thriving pranking sense. (Such an opportunity may never come again!)

Aryn felt the conflict and quickly told him to put his side of the conversation on speaker to let her and Near listen. And furthermore, she was renouncing him as her twin if he didn't go with the prankster side! Light sighed, and rubbed at his neck. L was still processing this response, so didn't notice him jabbing at the point on his neck that made it so the sounds around him were also transmitted across the mental bond.

Decision made, Light decided to act on his prankster twin's behalf and spoke up. "And if you don't stop taking such an unhealthy interest in it, I swear to God, I will hurt you!" And Light struck the classic anime I-got-you-now-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah! face. In other words, he stuck his tongue out at the camera and pulled his eyelid halfway down his cheek. "BLEEEEEAAAAAH! SO THERE!"

L choked quite admirably at this behavior from him, but then, he'd gotten to know the crazy killer Light. (ie the Death Note) Light cocked his head, listening to Near as he laughed quietly with Aryn at L's apparent discomfort, audible even through a scrambler. "Light-kun, that was very naughty. Were you trying to get me to choke on my cake?"

"I'uno. Did it work?" Light replied, still listening as Near realized who exactly his girlfriend's brother's captor was to him, given the comment about cake. OH YEAH! Light was the MASTER of playing innocent!  
_  
Light, why didn't you tell me that L was the one holding you?_ Near asked.  
_  
Because, I don't want you guys to worry about me too much._ Light explained while L was scolding him.  
_  
What do you mean?_ Near asked.  
_  
Umm, let's see. You, Matt and Mello have told so many horror stories about the case files Matt hacked into, and what L is willing to do. I don't want you guys to think that you have to come to Tokyo to rescue me._ Light explained sarcastically, responding to L's chiding in the most childish but gutsy way possible. He mooned the camera.  
_  
Light, you are an idiot. Why wouldn't we want to know that you were being held by a man with only a loose attachment to the laws? That's something that friends tell each other._ Near was absolutely shocked.

_Do you want us to try to warp over there, Light?_ Aryn asked, _We probably could get you out._

NO! Light barked,_ Near, I already know what L could do to me. I also know that if he actually tries anything too bad, I can take care of myself. After entire armies, one sleep-deprived detective isn't going to kill me. Aryn, that's exactly what I _don't_ want. Now, go away and let me sleep._  
_  
Already?_ Aryn asked, surprised, _It's only 11 in the morning!  
__  
For us._ Near reminded her. _For Light it's midnight._

Oh yeah, Aryn realized sheepishly. _You want us to get the gang into Everlost?  
_  
_Nah, 'm fine. Just be quiet and lemme get mind-sleep,_ Light slurred, half-asleep.

The last thing he heard was the scrambled voice of L asking him what was wrong.  


* * *

L was quite worried about Light. It was definitely not normal behavior for him to be at all like this! Every single one of his actions since he had put himself into that cell indicated a far less serious person than Light usually appeared to be, though, L did have to admit, he liked the teen he had come to know over the past month far more than he liked the one he had gotten to know over the three months before that. Though, L could have done without being mooned, most likely in an attempt to get him to choke on his cake.

And, as his sore throat was reminding him, it had worked. Admirably well.

Sighing, L leaned back and got ready for another long night of watching the three prisoners, though, he did decide to talk to Yagami about the girl named Aryn Light had mentioned, and how exactly she had ended up dating his heir.

"Yagami-san, do you have a moment?" L asked the worried father.

"Of course," the man laughed. "That's practically all I have these days."

"I need to ask you a question, Yagami-san. About a comment Light-kun made." L stated.

"Okay, shoot. What is it?" Soichiro asked, looking at the camera.

"Light-kun mentioned something. He said that he needed to go on a computer for a moment to get something from a 'shared account'-" Soichiro twitched "-he said. He said that I should tell you something, and that you could vouch that he was retrieving something okay. He said I should tell you that Aryn and Near were going to be updating the 'Everlost' series, I believe he called it." L finished, quite curious about what could have made the stoic police chief twitch about the mention of a shared account. "Could you please explain these comments, Yagami-san?"

Soichiro began to laugh quietly. "I can't believe I forgot about that." he laughed, "I should have remembered them. I assure you that Aryn and Near are not attempting to send Light a coded message in the picture, just some joy. The Everlost is the world those five have created between them, and Aryn occasionally does paintings for the races in it. They all share an account on a website called Deviant-Art. Aryn uploads her drawings there, and they all get copies. The girl's drawings amaze me. They're extremely life-like, despite the fantastic material. And believe me, she is not the sort to cooperate with a killer like Kira. Though, she does have quite a twisted mind in a different way." Soichiro shuddered, remembering the Paintball Battle Royale of '02. The house was still vaguely tie-dyed in the right light.

"I...see." L said slowly, "You said those five? I know of Aryn, Near and Light-kun, but who are the other two?"

Soichiro looked up, no longer as defeated looking as he was just half a minute ago. "Why, their best friends. Or worst enemies. The way those five act I'm never quite sure how they keep from killing each other. Mello and Matt."

L was now extremely worried. Near was an uncommon name, but conceivably used more than one time, but Mello, Matt and Near all together? All of his best heirs? Associating with Kira, no less?

"I see, Yagami-san. Thank you." L said, about to turn away when he heard Soichiro speak again, much softer.

"Ryuuzaki..." the man said, "thank you. You have no idea how comforting the thing you just reminded me of is. I'm no longer quite as worried about Light."

"You're welcome, Yagami-san." L replied, not quite sure how to take this. How was it that he, L, greatest detective in the world, had just been left with more question than answers and completely befuddled by two men of inferior intellect and experience?

_Well,_ L amended, looking at the sleeping form of one Light Yagami, _experience at least. Light-kun is just as intelligent as I am. Maybe even more so._  


* * *

Aryn sighed in relief as she felt Light finally slip off into oblivion. She glanced at her boyfriend of nearly three and a half years and smiled.

"He's out. Outer than he has been in almost a year. It's safe. He isn't going to register the call," she told Near, a smile tugging at her lips.

"I'll get Mello and Matt then," Near said, tucking a short lock of unruly reddish hair behind her ear. "It's even more urgent that we get there now. I knew he was locked in a cell, but really? L? The idiot needs to tell us things like that."

With that, Near closed his eyes and sent out the mental pulse that all of them had decided on to get their minds focused on Everlost. The world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of colors as the other two felt the pulse and returned with their own, and they surrendered to the pull of Everlost, their haven to meet at when they couldn't physically be together.  


* * *

When the swirling colors stopped, instead of being in an apartment filled with a large number of intelligent live paintings, Aryn and Near were standing in the Hall.

The Hall was the oldest of Everlost's features. It was the cave they created first, after all five of them had been in the accident during the trip to Britain that had changed everything and found that Matt, Mello and Near had been linked into the bond between Light and Aryn. They discovered that the bond essentially worked like a chat room online. There were different areas for each person, and anyone who was focused on that part of the bond could talk to that person, and anyone that person was talking to. Very useful for cheating on tests.

Matt and Mello were standing next to them, and thankfully, Light was nowhere to be found. All of them shared a smile of relief at that. They were fairly sure It would work, but weren't entirely sure.

"So," Near began, "Matt. Have you _acquired_ tickets for the flight?"

Matt grimaced, not liking the emphasis the younger boy put on acquired. He made it sound so dirty!

"Yes, I have," the computer genius replied shortly, "The next flight to Japan leaves in about," he checked the watch he had jury-rigged to go at Earth time, which meant it moved at about three-fourths of Everlost time. Yes, they had done experiments. "Umm, three hours AT. That should be enough time for even perfectionist here-" Matt jabbed playfully at Aryn. "-to pack and get a cab. And yes, they are for first-class. You guys are leaving from where?"

"My apartment. We're going to be bringing all of my stuff, cause Light can't seem to live without us. Therefore I, at least, am moving to Japan," Aryn replied sniffily, miffed at the jab at her packing skills. They were awesome dammit! "And you know full well how fragile my equipment is. Remember last time I didn't get enough time to pack all of my paints and clay just right?"

The four of them shared a wince at the reminder of the nasty mess they found the last time they packed Aryn's junk too quickly and then got on a plane.

"Yes. That was quite a mess. I still have some robots that come to life and attack people while they sleep."

Sweat-drops.

"Remind me again, WHY HAVEN'T YOU GOTTEN RID OF THEM, IDIOT!" Matt was one to let you know when you were being an idiot in his opinion.

"They amuse me," Near said, serenely, playing with one strand of his hair.

FACE-PALM!

"Anyways..." Aryn continued, trying to get the conversation back to the soon-to-occur trip to Japan to bust Light out rather than her magical paint that made toy robots go homicidal. "So, where are you guys again?" she asked Matt and Mello.

"...I'd rather not say." Matt was looking extremely shifty.

"What he means is that, yet again, he decided to ditch the hotel to go to a more comfortable place that was reserved using less-than-legal-methods." Mello wasn't really one to mince words. No, not at all.

"I don't really want to know. If we leave now, can you get to my apartment in like, half an hour and help me pack? The bat just got scanned and doesn't want to settle down. I had to set Dysna on it to keep it still." Aryn said, slightly uncomfortable with the rather illegal direction this conversation was taking. Just because they weren't liable to laws, didn't mean Aryn liked discussing breaking laws. Actually doing so was fine, but discussing it left her eyes going dry. They still had no idea why.

Mello turned to Aryn. "I thought they didn't get that bad?" he questioned.

Aryn shifted uncomfortably. "Ummmm, I may have linked the bat and Light?"

Near stared at her. "You didn't. We agreed not to do that until Light was out of danger. As the painting would see it anyway."

Aryn sighed. "I...umm...kinda mixed up the paints when doing the eyes? Accidentally grabbed the linker?"

Matt sighed. "We'll be right over." With that, Matt grabbed Mello's arm, and they disappeared. Five seconds later, so did Aryn and Near. They were going to Japan!

* * *

I should say this: I FEEL NO SHAME!

Also, I tweaked the trio's age. Just by one year, I think, but still, they're closer in age to Light and Aryn.

And yes, Light and Aryn were adopted. They were originally from a Middle Eastern clan of magic users, who ended up getting massacred when Light and Aryn were six. Light and Aryn got adopted at the age of eleven, just after they finally managed to escape from their parents murderers, who had been holding them captive for five years. Yes, they are rather severely messed up.

I repeat what I wrote in my profile: I write crangst. At least, I do now. I used to write a large variety, but I found my niche. So, expect there to be a painful past for these people, and a future that would make a lesser person go insane (and some greater persons to think they're insane).

And yes, you guys will get an explanation as to what the hell is going on later in the story. Er, chapter 9, I think.

And, once more: I REGRET NOTHING!


	2. Mello's Chubbchubbs and L's 'Insanity'

Here you guys go, Chapter Two!

And I did away with the warnings list. It's going to end up getting ridiculous.

Disclaimer: I know I've already said that I don't own Death Note, So I'm just gonna add that I do not own Cash Cab, nor do I want to.

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Mello's Chubbchubbs and L's Insanity

* * *

**

Two hours later, and there was screaming from inside the resident artist's apartment. The neighbors, long since having given up on any sense of normality, only made a token protest in the form of loud music that only made the situation worse.

Aryn and Mello were up in each other's faces, shouting their heads off.  
"I'M TELLING YOU, WE ARE NOT LEAVING THEM AWARE!" Aryn screamed.

"WE'RE LEAVING THEM AWARE! REMEMBER, I'M THE ONE WHO KNOWS WHERE WE'RE GOING! SO IF I WANT THEM AWARE, THEY'LL BE AWARE!" Mello yelled back.

"The taxi is here," Near stated.

"OH HELL NO! I KEEP TELLING YOU, THEY'RE TOO FUCKING AGGRESSIVE TO LEAVE AWARE WITH THE OTHERS! IF YOU WANT TO THEM AWARE, PUT THEM IN YOUR SUITCASE!" Aryn was adamant about not leaving Mello's extra chubbchubbs awake. They would tear the other paintings to shreds!

"Let me try," Matt told Near. "I have larger lungs." This said, he turned to the screaming pair. "YOU TWO! SHUT THE FUCK UP! THE TAXI'S HERE, AND IF YOU WAIT ANY LONGER, WE AIN'T GOING TO GET TO THE AIRPORT IN TIME! SO STOP SCREAMING AND COME ON!!!!!!!"

"Let me try," Matt told Near. "I have larger lungs." This said, he turned to the screaming pair. "YOU TWO! SHUT THE FUCK UP! THE TAXI'S HERE, AND IF YOU WAIT ANY LONGER, WE AIN'T GOING TO GET TO THE AIRPORT IN TIME! SO STOP SCREAMING AND COME ON!!!!!!!"

For a moment there was deafening silence. Then exactly _what_ Matt had said penetrated Mello and Aryn's minds. Honestly, it was scary how in sync those two were when it came to certain sentiments, and this was one of them.

As one they screamed "CRAP!", grabbed onto an arm (Near for Aryn and Matt for Mello), grabbed the luggage, balanced half on their heads, dragged the other half, and _ran_. Five seconds later, the four of them were on the bottom floor, as opposed to Aryn's penthouse apartment. (Matt suspected Aryn did some tampering.) Then the duo dragged everything out, shoved all the luggage into the trunk of the waiting cab, shoved Matt and Near and got into the cab themselves, screaming at the driver to get them to the LaGuardia airport, _FAST!!!_

For a moment there was silence while Matt and Near's brains attempted to process the sudden change in surroundings. Finally, Matt gave up a voiced a commonly thought sentiment for anyone who was around Mello and Aryn together for any amount of time.

"You two are so alike it's scary sometimes."

This statement seemed to jerk everyone out of their daze. The cabbie cleared his throat and got the car moving.

Five seconds later, lights and loud noises were flashing through the car as the cabbie turned around at the stoplight to introduce himself. Near figured out what was going on first, having been subjected to ungodly amounts of game shows before his father and mother were killed by over-zealous, normally ineffective vampire hunters and he went to Wammy House. He voiced one sentiment that made them realize how bad they had it. Near never swore, but here he was, swearing.

"Oh crap. It's the-" But the cabbie cut him off.

"Hello, I'm Ben Bailey, and welcome to the Cash Cab!" Yeah, that.

Matt froze for a moment before turning to Mello and stating, "I fully blame you for this. You are the one who booked the taxi."

Aryn, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as composed. She had been through too much pain in her lives, and shocks like this had begun to trigger flashbacks to the worst years of both her lives. She began to whimper, shaking in her seat. She instinctively reached for her twin, knowing he could comfort her, but she forgot that he was asleep at the moment.

* * *

Light woke with a jerk as Aryn's terrified and frantic mind touched his, trying to find comfort somewhere. She had fled her body. What could have terrified her this much? It left her body as little more than a corpse and gave him a physical feeling of her body.

_Aryn?_ he asked, _What's going on?_

She whimpered, consciousness shaking before she spoke, extremely softly. _All of us were getting in a cab, and then...there were flashing lights and loud noises!_ After that she refused to say anymore.

Light sighed, knowing just how difficult it was to talk to his sister when she was in such a state. Flashing lights and loud noises reminded her of when the chameleon demons attacked their family's house. _It's okay. We completely eradicated the bastards who ordered our spirits broken, remember?_

There the imprint of a muffled nod in his shoulder.

_Good,_ he smiled and brought his arms up to hug her spirit, not caring that he was going to be breaking L's preconceptions about the world, if the emotionally-stunted detective had used the word 'uploading' in his explanation to Light's adopted father. It was the permission word. If it was used in any context that included two of the five names, Soichiro had permission to tell the person everything he knew, or as much as he deemed necessary. _So, there's no way it was the same thing. You're safe, okay? Remember, we have access to our Seraphim powers now__?_

_You're right,_ Aryn whispered, _I suppose I was just being stupid._

_Stop that!_ Light yelled, then softened his voice, _Sis, after what those bastards did to us, something like that would get to anybody. Don't beat yourself up about it. Now, feel a little better?_

Aryn nodded, calming down a bit. _Yeah._

_Good. Now, you should probably get back. It was probably a game show of some sort. Do you have any idea what show it was? I can probably hack it's camera and cheer you on, plus you can beat up the idiot who scared you so much,_ Light consoled her.

_Alright. I think it was something called Cash Cab. I heard those words before running._ Aryn faded, but not before Light realized that, even distraught as she was, Aryn had managed to avoid telling him exactly why everyone was in a cab in the first place.

"You little bitch!" Light yelled, accidentally out loud. Oops? Well, he was now officially screwed with a spatula.

* * *

L frowned. Was the solitude getting to Light's head? He was fairly sure that it was not normal to randomly cuss out thin air, at least not for any sane person. Not that he was any qualified judge of sanity. But that seemed weird even to him.

"Are you alright, Light-kun?" L asked.

"No I am damn well not!" Light yelled. "That mandragora using little merde didn't answer my question, and she knows it too!"

Quite frankly scared for Light, L proceeded with caution. "Who, Light-kun?" Well, L-style caution.

Light glared at the camera. "You didn't repeat my words to Soichiro exactly correctly, did you? Did you quote it verbatim? I'm fairly sure you didn't, otherwise you'd know exactly who I was talking about."

L swallowed, hid his fear for Light's sanity, and spoke, "I was not aware that I was supposed to repeat it verbatim, Light."

Light sighed, "Fine. I'll explain. Somewhat. This secret has been around longer than Japan, so don't expect all of it. Basically, Aryn and I are twins. We both were adopted after the rest of our family was killed by a pair of raiders. Aryn by a rich and famous American couple who, unfortunately, died when we were 15." Light carefully didn't mention that said raiders were not human, nor that they had held Light and Aryn captive for five years until Light managed to break them out. "You may have heard of the Argets? Yeah, them. She's been living on her own since then, with help from the rest of us. I was adopted by the Yagamis, who have treated me very well. Aryn and I have this weird mind-link thing that we call a twond. Literally twin-bond in English. Aryn got a nasty shock just now, and basically threw her soul halfway across the world. I was upset because she, manipulative little brat that she is, managed to avoid answering the question of why exactly she was in the situation she was in."

L stared, not that Light knew this. Great. the main suspect for Kira's true identity had gone crazy. -Er. Anyone who could possibly be Kira couldn't be too mentally stable in the first place.

Light sighed, apparently expecting this reaction. "You don't believe me, do you? Well, I could either spend three hours convincing you it's true, and miss Aryn kicking some snotty American dude's ass, or just give you proof, realize you're gonna think either me or you crazy and get to see Aryn kicking the American dude in the ass. Yeah. Get ready for a ride, Ryuuzaki."

"Wha-" L began to ask, but then Light was no longer in the nice, safe cell where L and Matsuda were safe from the killer crazy man. Instead, said killer crazy man was in the same room as him. Oh joy. And then, L and Matsuda and Light were no longer in anywhere L had ever been before. Instead, they were in Light's bedroom.

* * *

Light sighed. He knew he was going to end up in a huge amount of trouble later, but he wanted to watch some American ass get kicked! So he Flashed to the control where he grabbed L and Matsuda (Why exactly was Matsuda there? Who cared?) and Flashed both of them, along with himself, over to his Japanese room, where he let go of them and started rummaging around for his _special_ TV. You know, the one that hacks into random American satellite broadcasts. What were _you_ thinking?

He ended up finding in his closet, behind the false backing, along with all his living linked paintings. He avoided showing those to either of the guests, who didn't have a clue as to what exactly was going on, or when they'd consented to enter the Twilight Zone. They didn't need to see the fact that he had an intelligent living painting in his closet.

Once found, Light set his special TV up on his desk, in front of the normal one, turned it on, and began to fine-tune the settings.

:click: Wrestling.

:click: A futile message to outer-space.

:click: Some mega-popular chick-flick that Aryn hated.

:click: Top-secret American files.

:cli- Wait, what?

"Damn it all!" Light cussed, making his two minders jump. "I thought I made sure I _wasn't_ going to be hacking into the FBI feeds again! It's too damn tiresome having them all come out here and lecture me!"

Sayu, long-used to Light's sporadic dis- and re- appearances, yelled back, quite at ease with the casual hacking of highly encoded government files. "You dipshit! You're thinking of the CIA after they went overboard and freaking kidnapped our dog! The worst FBI's done to us is slap us on the wrist! And why are you searching channels again?"

Before L's usually sharp, currently frazzled, mind could process this, Light was yelling back. "Cause Aryn got herself trapped on a game show, and I need to offer moral support. Thus hacking the video camera!"

Sayu appeared like magic, bouncing excitedly. "Well, why didn't you say so? Aren't all the personal/public cameras channels 145-175?" Then she noticed L and Matsuda, who were still standing stunned, although beginning to snap out of it. "Whoa. Who'd you drag along this time? They look like death warmed over. Hey, isn't that the department ditz?"

Matsuda snapped out at this jibe against him. "I'm not a ditz!" he cried.

This snapped L out of it too. "Light-kun. If you were able to, at any time, escape the cell, then why did you stay there, assuming this is not just me finally having gone crazy."

Light rolled his eyes. "Duh. It's freaking annoying being under constant surveillance, and I wanted to get it over with. Do you have any idea how much crap I stopped doing while you were video-taping me, you perv?"

A slightly growly voice sounded from the false backing of Light's closet before L formulated a reply.

"Kina tell you what Light give up! Light give up everything! Light no able talk to Kina. Light no able watch special TV, and Light favorite series ending season that week! Light give up going into Everlost! Bad-men-who-invade lucky Kina no able leave painting while Light not tell Kina password! Else they no have fingers!"

Light sighed and walked back into the closet, rapping on the false backing, which everyone could now see. "Kina! Enough! What have I told you about talking while I have guests?"

A subdued whimper came from the hidden room. "Not to."

"That's right. So..." Light began removing the false backing and grabbing out a painting, the subject of which was hidden from the guests in the room. However, it was speaking.

"Kina shouldn't have. But they were being rude to Light! Also, Light Flashed them here, so they know! Kina can scold!" the voice whined.

"No Kina, you can't. Behave, and apologize for not introducing yourself, and I'll let you watch too." Light said as he began setting up tripod-painting-stand-things for the canvas.

"Kina can watch stupid-man get hurt? Kina sorry Kina not introduce self to strangers! Kina behave now! Kina can watch?" the painting asked as Light set it up on the stand, allowing the audience to view an exotic looking white wolf with oddly large ears that were tipped black. She was bouncing around, looking very hopefully at Light.

Light grinned. "Of course you can Kina. By the way," he shot over his shoulder as he turned back to the TV, "cascades of water."

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! THANK YOU LIGHT!!!!!!!!" And, on that exuberant note, Kina jumped out of the painting, startling L and Matsuda into yelps of fear.

Once out of the painting, the man-sized wolf pounced on Light and licked his face completely and utterly. It looked like he had just gotten out of a pool. Kina then turned to Matsuda and sniffed him.

"Neat-Hair-Man smell niiiiiiiiiice!" Kina slurred, "Like that one thing make Kina go 'WHOOOOO!' World spin!"

Sayu laughed and walked up to Matsuda. "Well, waddaya know? The policeman is the one whose smell is like coke to our dear Kina! Sooooo funny!" Sayu pinched his cheek and skipped away, collapsing bonelessly on the bed. Seriously, it looked like she had dislocated a leg and had just plain broken her spine.

Now Kina, recovered from her trip to La-La-Land, walked up to L. She sniffed, then sneezed. "Eeeeewwww! Messy-Hair-Man smell like nasty thing under Light-bed!"

Light laughed, returning from the bathroom, where he had retreated to dry off his hair. "You mean Mello's chocolate stash?"

"Yeah, Kina mean that! It make Kina's stomach hurt!" Kina whined.

* * *

L goggled. How could anyone, even a gigantic talking wolf, not like chocolate!? This was only further proof that his mind had finally snapped, and he was really sitting in the chair in the control room. So, L decided to sit back and enjoy the show. It wasn't like it was real, right?

* * *

Light laughed. "I know, I know. Hey, what's the channel for the game show camera/recorder/transmitter things?"

"Kina thinks it is 163. Or is it 164? Kina is not sure."

"Thank you," Light said as he finally tuned it to the right channel and, sure enough, there were Aryn, Mello, Matt and Near, sitting in a cab. Well, Near was sitting, albeit curling an arm around a nervous Aryn. Matt was playing a video game, Aryn was curled into a ball, and Mello and the driver were engaged in a cussing contest. Mello was winning.

_New York, we have visual contact. Repeat, New York, we have visual contact._ And all four straightened in their seats, and glanced around.

* * *

Aryn smiled. Now that Light was watching over them from Japan, they were safe, and she could thoroughly enjoy the ass-whooping that was to follow!

* * *

Near smiled slightly. His Aryn was better, now that they had the five of them together. Now he could really terrorize the idiot who scared his Aryn like that.

* * *

Matt grinned. Everything was not going according to plan. It was going better! Pain was to follow for the idiot who scared this group!

* * *

Mello smirked and reached for his raspberry-laced dark chocolate. All was right in the world if he could have chocolate while beating on the in-car entertainment that volunteered for the pain!

* * *

Light chuckled darkly as he saw the visible relaxing of all four in the back of the taxi, which had led to the driver getting slightly nervous at the sudden predatory air in them.

* * *

L frowned in confusion. Why exactly was his mind painting such a different view of everyone he knew? Oh well. The mind, especially his, was a mystery.

* * *

Matsuda sighed, knowing, as a family friend, that once Light got an idea like this into his head, he wouldn't stop until it was over. He swore the boy was obsessive-compulsive!

* * *

Kina leaned forward as her tongue lolled out in a wolfish laugh. The humans might not be able to see it, but Mello, Matt, Near and Aryn-Creator were all on the hunt now, and nothing would stop them.

* * *

Sayu giggled maniacally into a pillow that had gotten mixed into her heap. Those five were always so funny, especially when they all were trying to keep secrets from each other.

* * *

Ben Bailey gulped, and wondered just what he'd gotten into when he agreed to answer a call-ahead like a normal driver. Unfortunately, from what he could see, his passengers were anything but.

* * *

As one, all of the Linked Five cried out a loud "LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!!", startling the poor saps that had gotten saddled with them _this_ time.

Yes, it was going to be a very eventful taxi ride.

* * *

So, yeah. What do you guys think?

Kina is modeled after my best friend personality wise. Her real name is not Kina, but she prefers to be called Kina. She does occasionally talk like that, but I kinda amped it up for the story's Kina. Also, Kina's body is based off of a picture I drew once.

Yeah, Near's parents were killed by vampire hunters. You have a problem with that?


	3. Matt's Woe and Near's Anger

Here's the third revised chapter.

Disclaimer: Do I really have to do this again? :puppy dog eyes at the audience: You guys all know that I don't own anything except Aryn and her paintings, and L-5's background, right?

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Matt's Woe and Near's Anger

* * *

**

"Errr...Okay then?" The poor cabbie was already getting nervous, bless him. On second thought, don't. If he got too nervous and fainted, then either Aryn or Mello would have to take the wheel, as they were the oldest, and only ones able to (sort-of) drive, and once was enough for that particular experience. Both of them drove like they were stoned, drunk and near-dead, on a good day, let alone a day when they were excited as hell. Matt really had no clue how they got their licenses.

"Get on with it," Near said, dark-grey eyes glaring a hole in the man's forehead.

"Y-yes...Well, we're going to be starting with the $25 questions. They can be about any form of trivia, but will not be too difficult. You get one street shout-out and one mobile shout-out. If you get three questions wrong, I drop you off where-" The cabbie tried to explain the game, but got interrupted by Mello, who was already a quarter finished with his pound-heavy bar of chocolate.

"DIPSHIT THE LIGHT IS GREEN! MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" A careful and cautious passenger Mello was not.

The cabbie jerked and started the car moving. And now it was Aryn's turn. She was completely recovered from her earlier freak-out, and ready to get whooping!

"Guys," she said, "this is going to get so boring, so let's add a rule of our own."

"What's your idea?" Matt asked cautiously. When Aryn got that gleam in her eye, it never meant good for anyone. It said something along the lines of 'I-am-a-homicidal-maniac-and-you-are-my-next-target-pathetic-soldier-FEAR-ME-YOU-ARE-GOING-TO-DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!', and was usually seen on a battlefield while she looked at the Beings that were trying to infringe on the Earth. It was just one of those expressions that looked extremely creepy on anyone else, but on Aryn, it looked slightly natural. And that was what was truly to be feared. That, and her mad battlefield skills.

"Whoever loses gets to be the one to carry all my paintings and explain them to security. You lose by answering the least number of questions," she said, the gleam only upping in intensity and FEAR-ME! power.

Mello scoffed, and was about to make some sort of rudely sarcastic comment when Light interrupted him.

_And what, exactly, is the reason you need to have the paintings explained to security?_ Light _drawled. _How did the man do it? It should not be possible to drawl in what was, for all intents and purposes, his own mind, albeit a communal mind! Matt was _so_ jealous!

Aryn squeaked and replied, accidentally out loud, the psychopath look fading into an 'OH-SHIT-WE'RE-CAUGHT!!!!!' one, "No reason?" Okay, more like asked. but the point was, she responded to the mental comment, OUT LOUD!!!!!!!

That was a mistake.

Ben Bailey stared at her in concern. "Is she...all right?" he had to ask, even though he had a fairly good idea of the answer.

Near glared at him. Well, for him. It wasn't much different from the way he looked at anyone who wasn't one of the Linked Five or a soon-to-be-killed Being, but it was still creepy and held much death in Bailey's future. Not that Matt was complaining or anything...

* * *

Mello sighed, getting bored and slightly high. Oh crap! He'd grabbed the chocolate bar that was laced with alcohol as well as raspberry, hadn't he! Oh well. It wasn't like he minded.

He minded getting bored. Unfortunately, he was extremely bored right now, and the world was quickly leaving the momentary rightness of a volunteer for the torture the Linked could provide. So, it was up to Mello to return it to rightness, messed up as it was.

"Let's just say we go with Ar's plan, kay dipshits? I wanna play and get paid," he said, knowing how Bailey would interpret it, and it wasn't quite how Mello meant it. Or how anyone who mattered would take it. He meant it as in 'Change the subject, stop our secret from getting out and torture the dumbass.' Anyone who didn't matter would take it as 'Let's play and win money!' Oh how pitifully naive those people were.

Matt beamed. "Yeah, let's!" he cried, letting his sadistic side show. Near and Aryn smiled ferally as well.

"Let the game begin!" Near cried.

"Very well," the unlucky taxi driver agreed nervously. "The first question involves the Middle East. What three major world religions lay claim to the international city of Jerusalem as holy ground?"

"Oh! Oh! I know! Pick me!" Aryn screamed, waving her hand in the air.

Mello rolled his eyes at his idiot genius friend. "You don't have to raise your hand, smart one. This isn't school. By the way, the answer is Judaism, Islam and Christianity."

Aryn smacked Matt around the head in annoyance.

"Owww! What the hell?" Matt whined, rubbing the back of his head, glaring at her.

Aryn sniffed. "I just know this is your fault. _You_ are the one he spent the most time with at an impressionable age. Therefore it is your fault."

Near sighed. "I would attempt to chide you for swearing, but I have known you all for far too long to believe it would do any good whatsoever."

Mello smirked. "Got that right, Near."

Bailey coughed, and stated, with absolutely no attempt at masking his discomfort, "You have won $25. Are you ready for the next question?"

Near smiled viciously. "Yes. Yes we are, Prey."

"I don't wanna know," the man muttered to himself, then louder, "Okay, next question! In the traditional Japanese finger-food known as onigiri, what is the name of the flavored plum often put in the back. What the crap?" The man stared in confusion at his own question card. "Who in the name of ever-loving virgin Mary would know that?"

At that Light could not constrain himself anymore. _IT'S AN UMEBOSHI DIPSHIT!!!!!!!_ he mind-screamed, _AND MAY I JUST SAY YOU NEED TO GET INTO SURGERY FOR AN EMERGENCY MEETING WITH SOME PROCTOLOGISTS!!!!!!!_

Aryn, Near, Mello and Matt jumped out of their seats in shock, promptly banging their heads together. Mello saw pretty yellow and red stars circling his head.

"Why the hell are we talking about ass-doctors again?" Mello was definitely dizzy. His skull wasn't that hard. He may be hard-headed, but not that much!

"I think the answer is an umeboshi, Prey," Near stated from somewhere in the vicinity of Aryn's feet and Matt's torso. "And you two are heavy. No offense, you just aren't anorexic, and there are two of you. Please get off me."

Matt giggled dazedly. "Aren't you forgetting a word there, Near?"

Near sighed, beginning to worm his way out from under the pile-up-of-pain-and-uncomfortable-knowledge. "No, I am fairly sure I only wish for you to get off me, and not in the way that you are insinuating."

Aryn giggled, and squeezed Near to her. "Besides, Near knows I am the only one allowed to do that." Aryn glared at Matt. "This one's mine. Get your own."

Bailey was obviously loath to interrupt, and Mello was getting annoyed (-er) at the idiocy (hypocrite!), so started making himself heard.

"OI DIPSHITS!!!!! ASSHOLE HERE WANTS TO SAY SOMETHING! GET IN THE SEAT AND SHUT UP SO WE CAN CONTINUE!!!!!" Once again, a coded message to those who mattered.

Bailey shot Mello a nervous glance, probably because the magic-wine-laced chocolate was getting to his head. He _did_ have a decent alcohol tolerance, far better than most humans', but this crap was like 500-years-old or something. The magic got more potent with age, dammit! But he digressed.

Bailey cleared his throat and spoke, with an obviously fake enthusiasm. "You have won fifty dollars. Congratulations! Next question!"

Aryn and Matt paused in their fake fight over Near to look up at the only legal drinker in the taxi.

"Dude, is he stoned?" Matt fake-whispered to Aryn.

"I dunno, but he's scary," Aryn real-whispered back with an accompanying shiver. "Looks just like the chameleons did."

Oh_ hell_, that was bad. If Aryn got too frantic, she could literally destroy all of Chelsea with a single burst of fear-driven energy. Mello moved to defuse the situation, rather than fuse it for once.

"Just ask the question, driver-dude," he snapped. "Before I put the hurt to you." Not that he wasn't going to in the end, but the dude could delay just a little longer on the pain.

"Right," Dumb-ass gulped. "The question involves...a popular song by the Beatles? What the ever-loving shit? Ah well, the question is 'What is the first song the Beatles ever came out with?'"

There was silence for a moment, and then Matt broke the golden moment of the extremely rare item around any of the Five, besides Near or Light.

"What the Niflheim? I swear to Odin, if you are shitting us..."

"I don't think he is," Near stated, "I believe it is against the rules to throw off the competitors, in this case, us, with false questions. However, in this case, I do not believe that he knows the answer to this question either."

Everyone took a moment to look at Bailey, who was staring at his card, obviously asking something along the lines of 'For the love of God, who came up with the questions today!?'.

"You're right," Mello slurred, getting tipsy after three-quarters of a pound of alcohol- and raspberry- laced chocolate. "I don't think any of us like the Beatles, so we're gonna have to go with the street shout-out! and don't stop the car!"

With that, Mello did one of his signature stunts, and rolled down the window of a moving car, leaned out of it, and began shouting at a random dude on the sidewalk. The sad thing was, he actually did do this so often that it was one of his signature moves, seconded only by jumping on anything going around repeatedly in a circle and riding one time around, whatever anyone did. (Half of how the trio met Aryn and Light. The other half being the fact that they were not entirely human.) Well, that and an odd move with his katana that no one thus far had managed to duplicate.

"OI YOU!!! OLD HIPPIE DUDE WEARING TIE-DYE AND LAME-ASS GLASSES! LISTEN TO ME! IF YOU ANSWER THIS QUESTION, I'LL GIVE YOU FIVE BUCKS!!! WHAT WAS THE BEATLES' FIRST SONG?!"

Said old hippie dude wearing tie-dye and lame glasses, who happened to work as a janitor, therefore not making much money, happily replied, despite the insults that had been thrown his way.

"I believe the correct answer is 'Love Me Do'. Now my money?" The old dude held out his hand expectantly.

"Ummm...one moment, let me get it from my back pocket." And Mello leaned back into the cab and shoved the driver to the side. "MOVE ASSHOLE!!" Mello took the wheel, unheedful of Bailey's protests, and drive so fast that he ended up leaving an after-image/dust-streak in the middle of a crowded city of New York.

In other words he drove at nearly 100 miles per hour. And it was _very_ drunken looking. As in, the spectators wondered who stuck drunk glasses on their face to make them see that, because there was no way it was possible to drive that fast and that insanely without crashing in less than a second.

The poor old hippie was left standing in the middle of the road, blinking, with about two hundred people staring at him pityingly, before one random person laughed.

"_Dude, you got owned!"_

The hippie blinked rather forlornly. "I know," he sighed.

* * *

Back in the Taxi of Doom and Games, as it had now been dubbed, Ben Bailey was quivering in fear, actually whimpering slightly in fear. This ended up getting on Near's nerves. Near had already been angry at this fool for scaring his Aryn, but now...the man was going to be hurt. He lunged forward, and began to put four and a half years of fighting non-humans to use.

.

.

.

In other words he began to beat the crap out of the guy, fighting dirty and going for the sensitive spots. In a car going at roughly 100 miles per hour. While the other guy was scared out of his mind. Light was cheering and giving him advice. Oooooh. They didn't have a spoon, and it was probably a good thing they didn't, otherwise Near might have employed Light's suggestion of castration.

You kinda had to pity the guy. He was getting the crap beat out of him in his own car, which was being driven by a drunk 16-year-old who couldn't drive at the best of times. Today was not a day to be Ben Bailey of Cash Cab.

"Dear God WHY MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????" came plaintively from underneath the White Blur of Fury and Doom.

Matt smirked and leaned down, pausing Near in his quest for blood. "Why you? I'll tell you why you. You decided to pick up the group that, even when not all together, like we are now, can drive a saint to sin. You then decided to scare the crap out of one of those teens, startling her into a flashback of a traumatic experience. You basically volunteered to be our in-car entertainment for the duration of the time before we have to go. We would pity you, if you hadn't hurt one of us. That sealed your fate."

The poor cabbie looked up at demonic visage before him and whimpered slightly in fear. This reminded Near of why exactly he was beating the crap out of this guy, and he began hitting again.

* * *

The chauffeurs at LaGuardia airport in Queens were experiencing as normal a day as it was possible to have in the busy heart of New York, especially a place that was specifically designed for escorting people in and out of New York, when something happened that made many of them wonder what exactly was slipped into the punch at the staff party last night. Specifically, a yellow cab screeched into the parking lot, completely demolishing the ticket gate in front of the parking lot.

Once the cab had skidded to a stop, fifty feet from where the sparks had begun to fly, all four doors opened.

From the back came one dazed and scared red-head wielding a Gameboy and wearing orange goggles and a leather-and-fur striped jacket and a madly giggling, deranged-looking girl with short red-brown hair that was almost crackling with electricity, _red_ eyes, and a black-on-black outfit, who looked utterly deranged.

From the drivers' side came an androgynous blonde who was in a similar state to the girl, with the added addition of looking drunk out of his mind, was wearing enough leather to cover three cows, and eating a chocolate bar that was almost glowing.

And then the passengers side. That was, if possible, weirder than the other three combined.

A full-grown, beaten-up man tumbled out of the car, wheezing and panting. He looked around frantically for a moment, before turning and looking back in the car with a look of sheer terror usually only found in a particularly grotesque horror movie. From the depths of the car, a pair of glowing grey eyes appeared. Somehow, the eyes _glided_ forward, slowly revealing the owner to be a ghost-like teenage boy all in white, including his hair. His expression was one of an angel delivering righteous punishment to the wicked.

"Please..." the man sobbed. "Please...no more...do whatever you want, but no more."

The ghost smiled pleasantly, the avenging angel disappearing beneath a cheerful and intelligent young man. "We're here. It's time for us to go. No need to fear, Prey, we won't be bothering you again."

The chauffeurs of Airport LaGuardia shivered at the implications behind the scene. More than one were now looking around suspiciously, trying to find whoever spiked the punch that badly, because there was no way this was real.

* * *

Aryn gasped for breath. Between Mello's absolutely awesome driving, Near beating up the dude that had scared her so much, Matt's petrified 'Oh-shit-we're-all-gonna-DIE!!!!' face and Light's crazy comments in her head, she couldn't help it. She burst out laughing so hard she really couldn't breathe. Now, however, it was time to check in to the flight counter thing, so therefore Near had to stop whaling on the idiot.

"Near," Aryn gasped as she leaned on Matt's shoulder, about to pass out from lack of oxygen. "Stop terrorizing the dude. He's more than paid for his transgressions, and our flight's leaving soon. We need to go."

"What?" Mello shouted, "But last I checked, we had almost an hour!"

Near sighed. "Matt forgot to check how long we have to be there for international flights again, didn't he?"

"Yup," Aryn answered, getting her breath back. "Now come on. Let's get our crap out of the car. Oh, by the way, Matty-boy, you and I are the ones who didn't answer a question," she sang.

Matt gulped. "So, even though Mel hijacked the car, we still have the deal on?"

Aryn grinned. "Yep! that means we have to carry the paints!"

"Great," Matt sighed, "I swear, if someone gets a heart attack looking at the 'rays, I am blaming you!"

"Okie-Dokie!!!"

Mello stared at her funny. Well, funny for a drunk. In others words he was looking at her much like teenage girls at the first DVDs of Twilight. Predatorily. But Near understood. "What the crap?" Mello asked. "I'm the one who's drunk! You're muscling in on my territory!"

Aryn laughed. "It's so easy to wind you up when you're drunk! Has anyone ever told you you're a funny drunk? Cause you are!"

"I believe that, if we have the luggage, it is time for us to go to security and get to the gate. Aryn, have you informed the dognappers that we are leaving, because you know that if we don't someone is going to get annoyed at us. Also, the Japanese need to know."

"I knoooowww," Aryn whined as they started grabbing their luggage and going into the airport, "But it's such a nuisance. Do you know _anyone_ else who has to tell the government when they are leaving? I mean personally not just in the distant used-your-passport kinda way?"

Mello smiled. "We know one!" he sung. "L!"

Aryn scoffed, "No he doesn't. He contacts the countries, not the other way around. No one ever has any idea how to find him."  
"Then no," Near stated as the electric doors closed behind them, leaving three confused chauffeurs and one beaten-up taxi dude.

There was dead silence, before one of the chauffeurs spoke up.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going to find whoever spiked the punch and kill them for causing me brain damage."

* * *

Oh yeah, LaGuardia Airport _is _a real airport, however I don't think that they have chauffeurs. I simply wanted to have someone be able to witness L-5, and think that they had gone insane. Other than L. There are too many capitalized 'L's in this story! There's L, Sector L-5, **L**ight Yagami-Arget-Suino, and later on there's going to be mentions of a character called** L**ujayn, from Light and Aryn's gory past.

Enough of that, i'm going to let you people get on with your lives!

.!:\=


	4. Light's Drug and Aryn's Art

Okay, here's chapter 4! But first, I will inform you people of something. Pairings for the entirety of L-5 have been decided. They are final.

* * *

Pairings: Light/L, Mello/Matt, Near/Aryn and Misa/Sayu. No, I don't know where that last one came from, but it's cute!

* * *

Disclaimer: It's Chapter Four. Do I really need to tell you guys hat I don't own Death Note, or anything mentioned in here? Well, except the cake/ice cream/fruit sundaes. My family actually does that. And Aryn. She's my OC, get your own.

* * *

**Chapter 4 - Light's Drug and Aryn's Art

* * *

**

Light settled down and got ready to watch his sister and their friends on the game show, absently gulping some coffee from his stash in a thermos beneath the bed, (no matter that it was a month old) but Matsuda ruined the quickly becoming cozy mood by talking...about motives. And whatever other crap he wanted to call his trying to pry into the insanity that was Light's mind.

"Light, I've known you since you were fifteen, and I have to say, you have never struck me as the sort of person to stay in a single place for a long period of time, let alone a self-imposed exile, for even a week, let alone a month. You must have had an ulterior motive to stay in that cell as long as you did and, while I appreciate the annoyance songs I have learned, I wish to know your ulterior motive. Perhaps you really are Kira, and were hoping to clear your name? I honestly-" The man tended to start rambling when talking about getting into people's...err...heads.

Sayu stared at Light, mouth wide enough that a random bug flew into it and she started choking. When the coughing fit was done, she started yelling at Light. However, it was not the horror-filled yells one might have expected from someone who had just learned that their older brother was under suspicion of being Kira.

"OH MY GOD!!!!" she screamed, "LIGHT, WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL US THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF KIRA-BASTARD THAT YOU WERE GONE? IT WOULD'VE BEEN EASIER TO COVER FOR YOU IF WE WEREN'T GOING OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH WORRY OVER WHAT THE CRAP MELLO DID _THIS_ TIME TO REQUIRE YOUR HELP FIXING IT!!!! OR IF THIS TIME YOU JUST WEREN'T COMING BACK FROM THE BATTLE!!!! I WOULDN'T HAVE GONE THROUGH THE EMOTIONAL PAAAAIIIIIN YOU ASSHOLE!!!!!"

Light winced. Matsuda grimaced at the volume, though, really, he had known Sayu for two years and had expected something like this. Kina covered her ears and whined in protest at the pitch of the ending sentence. And L just stared blankly, wanting this hallucination to get over with (even if it was nice to see Light moving around and looking alive again).

"LAST TIME, MELLO GOT INVOLVED IN A FREAKING GANG WAR, WITH BOTH SIDES AFTER HIM!!! IN LONDON! WHO THE CRAP KNEW THEY _HAD_ GANGS, LET ALONE GANG WARS, IN LONDON? AND THE TIME BEFORE THAT WAS BEIJING!"

"Sayu," Light said, voice oozing 'shut-the-hell-up-now-before-I-go-after-you-with-a-spork'-ness anger. "I am suspected for _being_ Kira, and Soichiro did not want you and Sachiko to have to deal with the stress of that. L did not allow me to tell you myself, leaving the excuse up to Soichiro. Apparently, he forgot about what exactly I do for my friends and the world on an almost daily basis, as usually happens."

Sayu sighed and rolled her eyes. "I love him, but I swear the man is an overprotective parent to the point of selective memory."

Light shook his head. "No, he just wants to protect me. Remember everything I've gone through. Of course he's going to want to protect me. Even if it _is_ futile. Hey, why is Aryn talking about security? Hang on, I bet I know how to freak them out!"

With that, Light's face took on an insanely evil grin and he sent _And what, exactly, is the reason you need to have the paintings explained to security?_ Except he didn't send it in his normal tone. The one thing that annoyed Aryn the most about voices was a long, slow superior Texan rancher drawl/accent. So of course Light sent using one.

He then snickered at the sight of Aryn going from wolf-that's-hungry to lamb-before-the-slaughter. It was always so amusing to be able to watch her frequent mood swings. The girl's eyes changed color!

And then shit hit the fan. Aryn forgot about the connection and spoke out loud to Light, who was on the other side of the world.

"No reason?" she squeaked. And Bailey stared. Oh crap.

Oh well. Aryn, Matt, Mello and Near were very resourceful. Light was sure that they could come up with something. They had managed to keep all humans from finding out about the bond and everything without express permission from one of the people linked into it, after all.

Light felt safe turning his attention away from the TV (It wasn't like anyone would ever know!) and getting up to get some of his potato chips, which was what Kina was saying Matsuda smelled like. Light was addicted to potatoes, (and rice, but he'd never admit it!) so Kina, his main Linked painting, ended up with them acting like some sort of freaky drug on her.

For Mello's main Linked, Chyuu, a chubbchubb, it was chocolate. Matt didn't look it, but he was scary addicted to coffee, so Jytar, his German shepherd, got extremely hyper off it. Near's painting, Nyx, a panther, got dizzy off of anything with tomatoes in it. Yeah, Light didn't get it either. Both Aryn and her painting, Avarlist, Kina's reverse twin, got high off adrenaline and carrots. (Or Light sending her rushes of craziness, but let's not talk about that right now.) Everyone who found that out about Aryn spent a few moments of 'What the hell'-ness on it.

Anyways, Light knew that while having company over was not the best time for his fix, but he hadn't had any potato chips in almost a month, he needed to get some starch into his system, dammit! He didn't even care that Kina was going to start acting wonky and (more) insane. It would be amusing at least.

* * *

L sighed, wondering exactly how long it would be before Watari found his most-likely comatose body and brought it to the hospital. He was quite annoyed at this point, knowing none of this was real, but forced to endure it anyway.

* * *

Light called from the doorway to everybody, jolting them out of their vegging at the TV where Mello was currently yelling, looking more crazy than normal. Oh dear. Was he drunk? This was not the best time.

"I'm getting some potato chips. Anyone else want anything?" Light noticed that L seemed rather laid back for someone in his position, and was worried. Was L okay?

Sayu grinned widely, a boneless heap covered by thirteen polar fleece blankets. "I want me some ice cream!" she called, voice slightly muffled by all the fabric surrounding her.

Matsuda smiled, inwardly wincing. He knew exactly how potatoes affected Light, and it was not pretty. "I'm fine," he assured Light, "Though, I wouldn't object to some sort of pitted fruit if you have any."

L sighed, knowing that no matter how good the sugar tasted, it would not be real and therefore not filling. Oh well. "I would like some cake please, Light-kun."

Light frowned. He honestly hated all honorifics, let alone undeserved ones like that. "I'll see what I can do," he said turning, but he paused, turning back slightly, "Oh, and Sayu? If you ate my potato chips, I swear to Freya and Loki, I will hurt you with a spork and a ball-point pen."

Sayu nodded, looking like some sort of insane bed-monster.

"Good." Light sighed, before leaving to go down to the kitchen. Sweet potato-y heaven, here he came!

* * *

Kina whined in confusion. Messy-Haired-Man-Who-Smells-Bad not smell so bad no more. In fact, man smelled yummy, like prey! But bad smell still there underneath!

Kina wanted take bite good smell, but Bad-Smell-That-Hurts-Stomach still there? Kina no know what do! Man smelled good, but Man smelled bad at same time! Man so confusing!

Well, Light always give Kina permission to bite Annoying-Things-That-Confuse-Kina, so Light going let Kina bite Confusing-Messy-Haired-Man-Who-Smelled-Bad-And-Good.

Kina going go for it! Kina didn't care if stomach hurt in Time-Not-Now-Not-Remembered. Man smell like Just-Not-Breath-Deer! That only not best smell against Things-Make-Kina-Head-Spin! Kina want Just-Not-Breath-Deer!

* * *

L startled the entire neighborhood with a loud cry of shock. Matsuda was so startled that he fell over, and Sayu fell out of her metamorphosis cocoon thing on the bed.

Light ran into the room, brandishing ice cream scoop in one hand and cake knife in the other. He looked like an insane baker ready to go on a murderous rampage. (Light also managed to look dangerous, something that should have been impossible.) It took a moment for the situation to sink into Light's brain. He was seeing, but he wasn't believing. The sight was just too weird to believe right at first.

His Linked, Kina, was hanging onto L's elbow, teeth grazing the surface, barely enough to scrape off a few layers of skin. Her pink tongue was licking his elbow frantically, trying to lick the skin off with her rough tongue. L was holding his arm out as far as he could get it from his body.

Light blinked. Then he blinked again. Then he fell over laughing.

"K-K-KINA!" he gasped, "Let go of Ryuuzaki's arm! It's...you don't know where it's been! Do you have any idea the sort of things you might get from that? Why the hell are you trying to lick the arm of someone you actually said smelled bad?"

Kina growled slightly, clamped down just hard enough to leave a set of teeth marks, and released L's arm so she could respond.

"Kina knows! But Messy-Haired-Man not smell so bad now! Man smell like Just-Not-Breath-Deer! Smells good!" Here Kina pouted, as much as a wolf can pout anyway. "But man still taste like Bad-Smell-That-Hurts-Stomach! Kina no bite again! Messy-Haired-Man taste biiiiiiiiiiiiglly bad!"

Light's attention was drawn to the TV by the words 'Japanese finger food'. So, he started watching again.

"-known as onigiri, what is the name of the flavored plum often put in the back? What the hell?" The man stared in confusion at his own question card. "Who in the name of ever-loving Virgin Mary would know that?"

At that Light could not constrain himself anymore. He loved onigiri, (Again, he would never admit it to anyone, but everyone knew.) and could not stand them being bad-mouthed. So, he shouted at the TV, forgetting that the man he was mad at could not hear him. "IT'S AN UMEBOSHI DIPSHIT!!!!!!!" he screamed. "AND MAY I JUST SAY YOU NEED TO GET INTO SURGERY FOR AN EMERGENCY MEETING WITH SOME PROCTOLOGISTS!!!!!!"

And all four in the car jumped and collapsed on the floor, clunking their heads together. That looked painful. Oh well, not Light's problem. Heh. Mello was funny when he was drunk and dizzy. Oh dear, L had that 'I'm-a-world-famous-detective-and-you-should-bow-down-before-me-and-my-awesome-powers-of-reasoning' look on his face. The one where he got all serious-er before spouting some weird gibberish no other person in the world, other than L-5, could follow and understand how the hell he got that conclusion.

Usually ruining Light's fun. L was so mean to him! But then again, it wasn't _Light_'s fun that L ruined. It was the _Death_ _Note_'s. They were entirely different things, so Light didn't mind _too_ much.

Oh there goes the weird gibberish that no sane person can follow.

"Light-kun, you do realize that we are watching illegally pirated TV from America? Not only that, you have threatened grave bodily harm to at least one person in this room. And your pet has evidence of illegal animal testing and brain-washing having been done upon her? You could probably be arrested right now." (L didn't really care himself, but was concerned about the fact that Matsuda-san was in the room and seeing all of this. L didn't want his friend to go to jail just for something like that!)

Kina, however, bristled at the implication that Light had hurt her in order to get her to act the way she did. (That was all she understood from the spiel.) She served Light out of her own free will! And anyone who implied otherwise was just asking to be hurt!

"Kina resents that! Light no hurt Kina! Kina made this way by Aryn-Creator! Kina hurt anyone who says bad things about Light!" Kina snapped as a sparkling black-and-red cloud surrounded her.

She stalked forward out of the cloud on her hind legs, gold bangles that had appeared from nowhere clanking as she moved. Eight more tails had appeared, thrashing around her original tail in a frenzy. Her face had shortened and her hair had lengthened to fall into her face, covering her suddenly blazing viridian eyes as they glared at L. She was wearing a skirt apparently made of belts that were too large for her slim waist and strips of fabric, as was her shirt. She had two swords, hanging low off her waist, both silver with strips of well-worn leather wrapping around the handles. In short, she was a lethal-looking Gypsy wolf-human hybrid who was pissed as hell at L.

"Want to tell Kina exactly what Messy-Haired-Man was trying to say about Light?" she growled.

L shook his head quickly.

Kina smirked. "Good," she purred, sounding more like a cat than a wolf, "Kina thought you might say that."

"Kina," Light rebuked, "you know you aren't supposed to do that unless I'm in _actual_ danger. You know, like demons from the underworld type danger, not overly confident idiotic detectives danger. Hey!" Light's attention was grabbed by the screen, where Mello was yelling out the window while driving at an insane pace and Near was beating up Bailey. "Awesome! High-speed wrestling On Demand!" He settled back for watching the insane peoples hurting each other. For a moment all was silent, before Light got an idea that he screamed out in both his mind and out loud.

"_CASTRATE THE IDIOT WITH A RUSTY KNIFE!!!! OR, BETTER YET A SPORK!!!!_" Light had quite a vicious streak. However, so did Sayu.

"NO!!!! THAT'S TOO QUICK!!! YOU TAKE A SHARP ROCK AND FILET HIM!!!!!" Both of the Yagamis were up in each other's faces, screaming their head's off about what exactly Near should do to the idiot.

L was gaping mentally, having never seen Near this emotional, and he had known the boy since he was five! Well, that, and the sheer creativity behind Light's ideas. Some of them L had never even heard of, but sounded quite painful.

Matsuda just sighed, before going downstairs to grab his pitted fruit. You kind of got used to the insanity that was the family Yagami. (You kinda had to expect it, considering that their family name was 'I'm a gay' backwards.) It had only taken him six months to get used to the random yelling, fighting, and violent (and not-so-violent) suggestions. However, he had grown up with five siblings. He really pitied L. The man had obviously never had much human contact. The Yagamis had to be a full-blown nightmare for him.

* * *

Kina grinned. Humans make much fun for Kina! Kina like humans! Well, Kina like Light's humans. Kina never know other humans much. Kina too conspicuous Light say. Kina not mind. Kina want run, yes, but Kina's humans so much fun! Why Kina want leave?

Stupid 'L' man. He no understand. He think Kina been hurt. Why Kina need be hurt when Kina have everything Kina want?

* * *

Light grinned at Sayu and used their codeword suggestion to tell her to suddenly sit down and pretend nothing had happened. "Send him to Memphis!!!!!!!"

Sayu collapsed bonelessly, and Light turned around to finish making the fruit/cake/ice-cream sundaes and his potato chips. He needed the salt! His blood was only 1% salt! It was supposed to retain at least 15% at all times! Any lower and he would start going into withdrawal! And withdrawal was not a pretty sight.

"Just a moment for your junk, everyone," Light called over his shoulder as he walked away, "Kina, want me to get you some venison from the basement?"

"Light do that for Kina? Light wonderful person! Thank you Light!" Kina warbled as she started trying to climb the walls. No one wanted to know why.

Light smiled. "I take it that's a yes then?"

"YES!!!!"

Five minutes later, Light came back with sundaes made of strawberry ice cream, Sayu's favorite, on top of angel food cake, which was the only kind they had, topped with chopped pluots.

Sayu squee'd. "THANK YOU!!!!" And she descended on the sundae like a ravenous swarm of teenagers.

L just stared unblinkingly. "Why is there reddish fruit and red frozen goop on top of the cake?" he asked, slightly confused. It was a travesty to add anything to cake once it had been prepared!

"Stupid!" Light smacked his forehead. "Sorry Ryuuzaki. Completely forgot to tell you. Everyone else knew. My potato chips are the only food safe from this, mainly cause they are just perfect in their own right. Well, so's Kina's meat, but that's just cause no one wants to eat raw meat in their snack. Any other snack food that gets asked for at the same time ends up in one gigantic heap of sugar and sweets. The reddish fruit is Matsuda's pitted fruit. One pluot per sundae. The 'red frozen goop' as you put it is Sayu's favorite strawberry ice cream. And the cake is angel food cake."

"I suppose I can deal with this if it is a tradition of the house I am visiting, albeit against my will," L sighed, not actually as upset as he appeared. Actually, that description sounded rather good.

"Okay, that's good." And Light stopped paying full attention to L, instead turning it to Kina, who was sitting quite comfortably upside-down on the ceiling. "Yo! Kina! Catch!" Light tossed up some unidentifiable red meat that looked vaguely like a leg and was dripping blood slightly, but being caught by an invisible bowl. Weird.

Kina opened her eyes from her meditation to stare at Light for a moment, before she sniffed and realized the Just-Not-Breath-Deer-Smell had gotten stronger. And it was moving toward her rapidly. Quick as lightning, she grabbed her sword out and speared the deer haunch that was coming toward her. She fell upon it like (pun intended) a pack of starving wolves. Unfortunately, Light had grabbed the wrong haunch of meat. This one was laced with much dizzy-making things. Mello's idea of a prank. Kina could taste them, but she didn't care. It was meat! Things were about to get scarier than usual in Kina's presence. And Light had had some coffee a while ago. He really wasn't thinking about that, was he? He got more affected by caffeine than most people, but it didn't affect him until about an hour later. Meaning it was going to be hitting his system at about the same time that the dizzy-making things would be hitting Kina's. Fear mortals!!

Sorry about that. Light got a little excited when he was contemplating mass hysteria due to insane perky humanoid wolves.

Anyways... Two pairs of eyes widened at exactly the same time. One honey, the other vibrant green. The owners of the eyes went nine shades of bat-shit insane from now to Sunday.

* * *

Sayu gulped. She had just realized what happened. Light did have a chance to drink the coffee, which meant both he and Kina would be going insane right about now. It was gonna be a long day, trying to keep them from attacking the city, like they usually did when they were punch drunk, or coffee drunk as the case may be.

And then Matsuda walked into the room. The man may be a policeman, but he really was quite oblivious to certain things, his bad timing being one of them.

"Hello all. What'd I miss?" Two sets of glowing eyes snapped towards him, and in his place was a giant ostrich wearing a clown suit. Sayu didn't want to know. She just hunkered down and prepared for the worst.

* * *

Yes, pluots actually _are_ real fruit. They're like a hybrid of a plum and something, I forget what. But htey are good.

Ain't Kina badass?

I don't know why Ostrich!Matsuda is wearing a clown suit. But it is an amusing image, ain't it?

And, the second time through here, I basically just made a few things regarding pairings a bit more obvious. But can you see the few changes that will lead up to something?


	5. Mello's Wine and L's Long Night

This chapter is a birthday gift to my friend. Ryuu-kun, here you go!

**Important: **Okay, for everyone reading this chapter, I would like to say that there are now completely different versions of the other chapters put up. Everything stayed basically the same, but I made the tone a bit more in tune with what's happening in the later chapters that I'm writing. Also made a few things a bit more obvious. Softened reactions, sharpened Light's guilt. Oh, and **L-5 now knows that Light's Kira.** Kay?

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Mello's Wine and L's Long Night**

* * *

Aryn gasped as a shock-wave of pure adrenaline and excitement coursed through her body. This was bad. The only time she got such a rush, when she hadn't been eating her carrots, was when Light got a hold of both potatoes and caffeine. That was bad because he didn't calm down until almost three hours later.

And his magic went out of control. He could sort of direct it, but not really. It was like a firehose. You could control which direction it went, but not much more than that. it did what it wanted.

Also, when Light went hyper crazy, so did Aryn, but to a lesser degree. However she was currently in the middle of an international airport. Not the best place to go bat-shit insane. (-er)

The woman who was taking their luggage looked at Aryn in concern. "Is...she okay?" The woman asked of Matt, who somehow looked the most responsible. Then again, out of the four there, he was.

"Errmm...I think so?" Matt asked, casting side-long glances at Aryn, trying to decide whether or not she was just trying to create a diversion to get Nyx, Jytar, Avarlist, Chyuu and the others through security without causing a scene. No, he decided when her pupils dilated to inhuman sizes and she began to jitter in place, she wasn't faking.

"Matt-Mello-Near-guess-what?-I-like-adrenaline-do-you-like-adrenaline?-It's-the-gift-of-Odin-and-Freya-and-Loki-and-the-best-thing-since-carrots-were-discovered-edible-and-oh-my-kami-is-that-a-_giraffe_?-I-love-giraffes-but-I-can't-have-one-because-it-would-be-too-tall-and-is-that-coffee?" Aryn squealed as she ran through the metal detector to try to get to the coffee. Luckily she had already taken off all the weird things airports make you take off before they let you go through.

"I do believe that some caffeine has just hit her system," Near said as everyone in the vicinity stared at the crazy teen who was bouncing around, barely touching the ground.

"No shit, Sherlock," Mello retorted only semi-caustically, also wondering what exactly was going on. Aryn _never_ acted like this unless completely high off of carrots or something.

"Or some adrenaline shock, guessing by the fact the Avar's having problems too," Matt stated absently from beyond the gate, where he was trying to put his things back on without getting off of the slightly jittering bag which held all the paintings, carefully wrapped and stored separately from all the paints that could mess with their minds. "We should probably hurry. We only have half an hour until the plane takes off. I don't think we still need to check our passports, cause we're us and probably have at least one picture in every major airport in the world. No one could copy us well enough for that."

Near laughed. "Got that right. All any of us have to do is call someone."

The airport security guard reminded them that they were holding up the line. "You know, other people have to go too. I don't care about any of the rest of it, but you might wanna get your friend before she hurts someone trying to get herself some coffee."

"SHIT!!!!" Mello screamed, earning him numerous disapproving looks from offended parents. He didn't really care. His honorary sister was going to keep them from saving his honorary brother from his annoying insomniac boss. "I'll get her!" With that Mello took off, again leaving a dust streak behind him. It appeared to be a technique he had perfected.

* * *

Aryn skidded to a stop as Mello stopped in front of her. "Mel-Mel! What's up?"

"Aryn," Mello sighed, "it's time to get on the plane. Or else we won't be able to rescue Light, our wonderful, dearest, most stupendous friend ever!"

Aryn's eyes enlarged comically and began watering. "NO!! Aryn is sorry she nearly made people keep from rescuing brother from detective man! Aryn be good and follow now!" And she did.

As they walked to the gate where Matt and Near were waiting with all their carry-on luggage, Mello tried to get to the bottom of Aryn's temporary greater insanity than normal.

"So, Aryn, my dearest friend who I love in a totally platonic, not gonna make Near kill me way, why are you so hyper?" Mello asked as casually as one can when one is literally dragging their friend through the middle of a crowded airport in New York.

Aryn turned to stare at him, hyper-rabbit-on-crack-and-LSD mindset fading in the face of the absolute stupidity of what Mello had just said.

"How old was that alcohol?" she had to ask, not really wanting to know the answer.

Mello stared. "I thought you were hyper out of your mind? And almost out of body?"

Aryn grinned. "I was, but the utter stupidity of your sentence snapped me out of it." She glared. "Way to ruin my buzz, man. By the way, I do want to know what type of alcohol that was, cause you're more insane than you usually are when drunk off human alcohol."

"How the crap do you _do_ that?" Mello asked incredulously, "It takes me almost an hour to fully recover from any type of buzz, even if alcohol doesn't affect me too much, and you just snap and you're outta it like, well, a switch." He threw a mildly baffled look at Matt and Near who were now in line for boarding passes being checked and getting on the plane. "Oh, I believe that was one of the bars laced with your grandfathers wine."

Aryn turned on him. "YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT! YOU KNOW WHAT'S IN THAT! HOW IT AFFECTS ALL OF THE TECHNOLOGY MANKIND HAS IF WE DON'T ALTER IT! I CAN'T ALTER AN ENTIRE FARKING PLANE! ARE YOU FREAKING TRYING TO KILL US ALL WITH FIVE-FURKING-HUNDRED YEAR OLD ALCOHOL? CAUSE THAT'S REALLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE TO ME! WHY THE CRAP DID YOU EVEN BRING THOSE INTO AN AIRPORT? I SWEAR TO GOD, IT'S LIKE YOU'RE SUICIDAL, HOMICIDAL AND SCHIZOPHRENIC!" Aryn screamed, attracting many weirded out stares from random passerby that pretty much said 'Someone's psycho, and it ain't the girly-boy getting yelled at.' That, and two fear-filled glares directed at Mello, one from behind orange goggles, and the other a pair of gray eyes that rarely showed emotion, and almost never to this degree.

"Mello," Near said severely, a hint of real fear underneath that only one of the Linked would know to recognize. "Is this true? Do we really have to de-tox you in the half an hour before take-off?"

Mello looked down and kicked slightly at the ground. "I'm sorry, okay goddamnit? You know none of us can taste the goddamned difference until we're too fucking buzzed to care! I didn't freaking realize it until I knew it would affect the frapping plane! I was planning on just going to the bathroom and puking out the magic!"

Near's voice froze Mello's quickly rising anger. Near's voice got cold when he was angry, and Mello had only ever heard his voice colder than this when he was talking at armies that were trying their patience again. "You would have left the wild magic to wreak havoc in a highly technical area such as this airport?"

Aryn sighed. "You guys. This is no time for a bitching fight. Let's just de-tox Mello and get on the plane. And thank Odin and Freya that the de-toxing doesn't glow or anything like that, kay?" Her tone really left no room for arguments. "Matt, you are the one who has had the least to do with magic recently, and you are the least magically powerful. You will have to do it."

Matt sighed in frustration. "Again?" he asked, only to be rewarded with a curt nod, "But I always have to do it!" he whined, attempting to use the patented puppy-dog eye technique on her.

Unfortunately for him, Aryn was immune to it, she and Light being the holders of the patent. (Dating from when they were three years old and figured out that widening their eyes and sniffling would make people do what they wanted.) "Not always. Near did it last time for you, and Light the time before for me. Now get moving. The line is starting to move and people are getting on the plane."

"Alright," Matt muttered, before grabbing Mello's hand and concentrating. To anyone else, it looked like they were, quite frankly, a gay couple holding hands or, considering Mello's looks, perhaps a straight couple, but Aryn and Near knew better. What Matt was actually doing was literally sucking the wild magic in the elemental faerie wine Mello ate that was wrecking his mind, and pulling it into his own body where, as the natural reserves he had gained from being half demon were not completely filled up, he was able to concentrate and turn the uncontrolled magic that would end up sinking the plane into magic that could be controlled and would not kill their chances of freeing Light from the annoying plans of L.

...Aryn also knew that Matt was by no means as annoyed at having to hold Mello's hand as he acted.

* * *

Five minutes later, Matt let go of Mello's hand as they reached the front of the line. Matt swayed unsteadily on his feet. It took a lot out of a dude to convert as much wild magic as was in elemental wine to tamed magic!

The ticket woman didn't particularly care, just waved them in as she was looking down at the tickets, before something registered in her mind. She looked quickly between the tickets and the four of them, eyes widening. The four magi shared a wince. They recognized the symptoms. They'd been recognized.

"Oh...my...GOD! It can't be. But it is! What are the chances? Oh my god! IT'S ARYN ARGET!" The woman's mind seemed to have shut down at the fact that the adopted heir to the Arget family fortune and one of maybe twenty people in the world who had a picture in every airport around the world with 'to be feared' printed under the picture, and one of five who were not terrorists, was standing in her line.

At the sound of one of the names that airport personnel the world over were taught to fear from training, every airport worker in the vicinity performed a classic bank heist move in unison. You know, scream, fall to the ground and lay very still while hoping to God you don't have to sneeze? Yeah, that. Every worker-bee for the airport in earshot performed that while the people who actually had to get on a flight stared on in confusion.

Mello whistled, no longer drunk on magic. "Damn. Ain't had a reaction that bad since Beijing."

"Yeah..." Aryn trailed off, remembering the riot they had caused by appearing at the airport right after one of their battles, beaten, bruised and bloody with their partners trailing after them with blood still dripping from their teeth. "Umm...let's just get on the plane before another riot starts."

"Yes, I do believe that would be a good idea." Near said, stoic in the face of this new...err...not-so-new difficulty. "I do not believe that anyone could possibly doubt our identities after that spectacularly obvious entrance."

"Dude, you are so right. Besides, the freaked out stares are getting to weird-out'ing level. Time to go on the plane to save our bud from the insane detective who thinks he's a mass murderer." Matt laughed, a little 'WHOOO!' after ingesting all that magic.

Shift weird stares from the now-rolling-on-the-floor-like-they're-on-fire employees to the redhead wearing a fur-striped jacket over black and white stripes with skiing goggles on his face.

Near sighed, resisting the urge to perform the move that is universal body-language for 'please-God-kill-me-now-I-don't-know-these-people-no-really-I-don't'. In other words the face-in-palm-then-shake-head-side-to-side. Why was he friends with these people again? "Let's just get onto the plane before we end up getting kicked out of the airport. Do you need to check our passports?" Near asked the woman who was staring at them with wide, frightened eyes. She quickly shook her head.

"Just...just go on onto the plane," she whispered. The poor woman had no idea how to act around this group of insane people.

"ALRIGHT! TIME TO GO SAVE LIGHT FROM CERTAIN BOREDOM!" Matt screamed. Ingesting magic always left him with a rather messed-up view of the world for a while.

"..."

"..."

"...Let's just get on the plane before he manages to embarrass himself even more." Near's eye nearly twitched as he said this. Whenever his friends managed to get themselves high again, it spelled trouble.

"Yeah," Aryn agreed, "I got Matt if you got Mello?"

"Okay."

And with that, Aryn and Near dragged their two out of it friends onto the plane to Japan. It was gonna be a _long_ flight.

* * *

Light laughed as he and Kina ran out of the crowded house. He didn't quite know why exactly L was yelling, but Light figured it was probably best not to stick around. Years of conditioning via Matt and Aryn.

"Run, run, as fast as you can! Can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" Light called back mockingly in English.

L glared out of the window from which he was shouting. "Get back here, Light-kun! You are the main suspect for the true identity-" L was cut off by being turned into a stuffed panda.

Light was ignoring the freaky panda-man. Heh. That's funny, panda-man, Light thought. And POOF! L was now a panda. A six-inch-tall Steiff panda that was fully animated, that is.

Light glanced back and saw the panda leaning out the window, waving his paw angrily. "Aww, L, you're such a cute panda!"

Sayu stared for a moment, then kept her presence of mind just long enough to remark on L's new and fashionable appearance ("Ya know, Detective-dude, I coulda told ya that you _don't_ mess with Light when he's on one of his caffeine-'n-spuds rushes. It leads to many traumatic experiences. Usually involving animals of some sort."), before bursting out into hysterical laughter.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA! OMIGOD, THAT IS SO AWESOME!" Sayu then leaned out of the window. "GOOD ONE, LIGHT!"

Light glanced back at Sayu as he kept running, grinned manically, and leapt onto a now-more-wolf-than-human Kina. "Onward my loyal steed! For 'tis our solemn, Odin-given duty to protect this earth from all manner of magical beasties! Aha! There's one now! turn starboard!" Light cried as he began to fence with a tree using a piece of bologna. What else would a high, magical teenager start to fence with a tree with? Strawberries?

.

Never mind. Stupid question. _Anyways_, Light was fighting a tree with a stick of bologna and screaming threats in an archaic dialect of English. Of course the neighbors came out to gape. At least, L expected that they would gape. He was sorely disappointed.

They only looked mildly annoyed.

Mrs. Yoshimura next door clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Honestly," she scoffed, "what are those two teaching their children? The wolf is bad enough, but haven't they taught him to _avoid_ the things that make him crazy?"

Mr. Ito from across the street sighed and shook his head. "He probably needs the stress relief. Haven't you seen the papers? Light-san is the top student in Japan. Something like that has to get to a guy. Though, I will agree that some things are over-blown. I mean really, American SWAT teams flying in and kidnapping their dog? I swear this street is enough to make anyone go insane."

"It seems to have already gotten to my daughter," Mrs. Yoshimura pointed out dryly, indicating her eight-year-old daughter, who was walking _towards_ the crazy man fighting a tree.

"Yagami-san," young Kaede Yoshimura pointed out, "that's a tree. if you want to fight something, maybe you should go to the city? There's always lots of bad people there."

Light cocked his head, staring at the young girl in contemplation. Mrs. Yoshimura tensed, ready to be forced to take her daughter to the hospital (_again_) because of something Light Yagami did. The hospital had created a separate wing, staffed entirely by non-humans, dedicated to the victims of magic. When there hadn't been a battle nearby recently, victims of Light Yagami typically made up about a quarter of the population of that wing.

It appeared that Mrs. Yoshimura did not have to fork over the yen to the hospital today. Light simply nodded grandly at the girl and replied, rather kindly, "Why thank you, kind maiden. That is quite a wonderful idea. You have my gratitude."

With that, he and Kina wheeled away, heading for the end of the street. Kaede interrupted his grand exit though.

"Umm, Yagami-san, isn't downtown _that_ way?" Kaede asked pointing in the exact opposite direction. Light paused, mulling her words over for a moment.

"I thank you, kind maiden, from the bottom of my heart! May your flames burn brightly forever!" Light yelled as Kina performed an about-face and charged off in the other direction.

L looked over at Sayu, little panda brows furrowed. "Is this...a common occurrence with Light-kun, then?"

Sayu laughed. "Common and then some. Look at it this way. At least the other four ain't here. If they were, Panda-san, there is a high likelihood that we would be calling the roofing contractor and checking into a hotel, again."

L-panda cocked his head. "What exactly does Yagami-chan mean?" he questioned.

Sayu grinned. "I mean, last time they were all together here in Japan, they managed to remove the roof from our house. That was...one year ago? Something like that. We ended up making the news because it was a big explosion, and we lived in a hotel, all eight of us, for about two months. Damn, was that fun!"

L-panda cocked his head, wanting to know how exactly he had missed reports of an explosion taking the roof, and only the roof, off of a house in Japan. However Sayu took it as encouragement to continue her story.

"So, Tou-san and Kaa-san got their own room, cause no teenager wants to sleep in the same room as their parents. Then, cause they really didn't have enough room for three rooms, Light, Aryn, Near, Matt, Mello and me shared a room. Aryn and Light had gotten tons of soda and junk, so we all got really high on sugar and caffeine, again. This time though, they had these bracelets that kept them from using magic, so we were safe. Well, relatively.

"So, this hotel was kinda based on an American hotel, the Radisson? It's in the Minnesota apparently. So, there was an actual _water-park_ connected to the hotel. So, cause Light and them are awesome like that, we got to play in a water-park at midnight, with only us there. And run around an entire hotel wearing only our swimsuits at about four in the morning. So, it was awesome!"

L sighed, anticipating a long while of the torture that can only be achieved by a teenage girl with a captive audience. L was only six inches tall, and therefore very much a captive audience. L _really_ hoped Light got back to normal soon.

BLAT!

Sayu turned around, seeing the ostrich and, for the first time, realizing what exactly it was.

"Matsuda!" she gasped. "Did you just...lay a man-egg? Oh god, take that somewhere else! We don't want that sort of thing anywhere near here!"

Yes, L decided. It was going to be a very long night.

* * *

Nine and a half hours later, a very sheepish Light and Kina were escorted back into the house by a police officer who was sporting blue skin, pink hair and wings for ears. Sayu winced.

"Here they are again, Sayu-san. On the behalf of the Japanese police force, can I please request that you keep your brother away from potatoes, at least until we can spare the forces. With the Kira thing, we really don't have the forces to chase him down and pay the damages."

Sayu smiled. "Thank you for bringing him back, Yanoko-san. He hasn't been home for a while, so we've all been worrying about what exactly he's been up to."

The policeman shuddered. "Please, Sayu-san, the department is begging you, keep him and that giant wolf of his on a leash. For his sake if nothing else."

"Don't worry, Yanoko-san. I think that Kaa-san was looking into a good leash."

Yanoko leaned forward, and, after checking to see if anyone could hear, gave Sayu a bit of advice. "Tell your mother to look in the Bazaar. None of the human places will have anything strong enough to contain the wolf, let alone your brother."

The officer left with assurances that yes, Sachiko would be looking in the non-humans' Bazaar for something to _try_ and contain Light and Kina. And L-panda decided to speak up.

"Light-kun. Can you perhaps change me back into a human? It would be no great loss for Matsuda to stay an ostrich, but I have no wish to explain that to the rest of the team."

"Umm, you are very sleeeeeeepy...." Light began to chant, staring into L-panda's eyes. "This is all just a dream and you are _veerrryy_ _sleeeepyyyy_..." Slowly, L-panda began to sway on the spot, falling asleep. Light cradled the six-inch panda in his arms, shrunk a struggling Matsuda-ostrich and grabbed him, then looked at Sayu. "Anyone asks, we were never here, okay?"

"Kay," Sayu answered, then sighed as Light flashed away, Kina at his side. "Wonder when he's gonna realize that the others are coming to Japan, and that it's no use trying to convince the panda that he's dreaming? Cause they are so gonna burst in at the worst possible time for Light."

* * *

Yeah, there you go. Fifth chapter. I had fun writing it.

Isn't that a cute visual? Light cradling a sleeping panda-L in the crook of his arm?

Yes, the policeman was not human too. The Bazaar is like Diagon Alley from Harry Potter, only for non-humans.

I don't know why L-5 uses Norse mythology for their curses, they just do.

Happy birthday, Ryuu-kun!


	6. Matt's MotherHen and Near's Entrance

Disclaimer: We've been through this five other times in this story. I don't own Death Note or any other franchises I may mention in this story. Duh.

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* * *

Chapter 6 - Matt's Mother-Hen Side and Near's Entrance

* * *

**

"It's okay, L," Light assured (for the hundredth time, no kidding, Light had counted) from his cell, where he was attempting to convince L that everything that had happened last night was just a dream. Light didn't really want to, but it was really dangerous for a human to know their secret. On the humans part.

"I'm sure you just ran yourself too far down and fell asleep. I assure you, there is no way I have a living painting in my closet. I do not have a twin in America, and I have never heard of these people. Near, Mello and Matt? What sort of parent would name their kids that? And _magic_? Really, L, I understand that you are childish, but that's taking it just a little too far, don't you think?"

"I...suppose you are right, Light-kun. I was just taking my dream and thinking it was reality. I do not know why I even thought it might have been real for a moment." L sighed, sounding quite frightening over the scrambling speaker.

"Okay. That's good. Please don't dream about me again, it's rather disturbing," Light all but pleaded with L.

"I will try, Light-kun," L assured him, silently adding, _but I will make no promises._

For a moment there was silence. Then...

"I'm bored. There is nothing to do. L, is there any chance of me getting a piece of paper and a pencil?"

L didn't respond. Light got a little worried, before remembering that L had had an audio button installed in his cell after Light decided to sing for a while. Light was going to try to get L's attention, when a message from Aryn stopped him.

_Hey Light! Guess what? We're in Tokyo and staring up at the building that's holding you captive! Hang on! We're coming to rescue you!_

Light cussed. Idiots. Why couldn't they have just left it alone? He was fine where he was! As long as there was air conditioning and no screams of terror he wasn't going to have a relapse, so why did they come after him?

Light knew the answer to that question though. It was the same reason that he would've come after them. The same reason that he and Aryn had only managed to escape when there was no more hope of being able to bring Lujayn with them. The same reason that all of them would willingly go to the ends of the Earth and farther for each other. Because they were family, and family never leaves family behind, even if it might be better for the individual.

Having long since accepted that when it came to family, none of them could be dissuaded when they got an idea into their heads, Light didn't start yelling at the four idiot geniuses standing outside the investigation headquarters. Instead, he calmly stood up and walked over to the wall that was not bars or being blocked by furniture.

"Stupid." Bang went his head on the wall. "Geniuses." Bang. "Can't." Bang. "Keep." Bang. "A." Bang. "Secret." Bang. "To." Bang. "Save." Bang. "Our." Bang. "Lives." Bang.

* * *

L watched in slight confusion as Light stood up and, for no discernible reason, started to bang his head against the wall. L was suddenly extremely glad that he had sent the team out on several errands so he could speak to Light about yesterday. After all, it wouldn't be right that the team heard that both L and Light had had minor mental breakdowns.

He clicked the audio button, ready to ask Light what exactly he was doing, when activity in the lobby diverted his attention.

Oh, it was just Aizawa returning with the new laptop he had told the man to get. Nothing to be- Wait. Were those his heirs, who were supposed to be in England at the moment, walking into the Kira Investigative Headquarters? Well, perhaps walking was not the best of terms. Dancing would be better. And that other girl, hadn't she been in the cab yesterday? And L's fragile belief in the rightness of the world shattered.

"Light-kun. I have reason to believe you were lying when you said that you did not have a twin in America and that you had never heard of Matt, Mello or Near."

Light paused in his head-bashing to look up at the camera. "Odin-damned noble idiot geniuses can't leave well enough alone and keep secrets."

"What does that mean, Light-kun?"

"That Odin-damned noble idiot geniuses can't leave well enough alone and keep secrets." Light looked at the camera as if the man behind it was an idiot.

"I see." L really didn't, but he was willing to go along with Light on this one.

"If you'll excuse me, I want to see what exactly they're going to do. Heads up, I'm coming over there."

L cocked his head. "Light-kun, I do not think your disregard of the fact that you are supposed to be in a cell proving that you are not Kira is a good thing."

But Light was not paying attention. Nor was he in the cell anymore. Instead, he was standing right behind L and leaning down, staring at images on the screen.

"Oh god," Light groaned, "not this song!"

L looked at him. "I take it then, that it is normal for them to enter a new place dancing and singing?"

Light shrugged. "Well, we know that we make an impression anyway, so we figure we might as well make as big an impression as soon as possible. If we don't give people reason to expect much from us, they're less likely to be disappointed when they see how utterly bat-shit insane every single one of us is, even me. I'm the 'sane' one of the group. Which is actually quite worrying. Considering the fact that I have fenced with a tree using a piece of bologna."

L nodded, wondering at the fact that he did not mind the fact that Light was leaning over his shoulder to watch the monitors, when he was actually supposed to be in a cell. He mentally shrugged (because of course, the great detective L _cannot_ do such a demeaning thing as shrugging for real, even if he is currently in some sort of dream world) and turned back to the screen, watching his three heirs and a girl who looked a little like a red-haired Light Yagami dancing and singing their way across the lobby.

* * *

Aryn, Matt, Mello and Near stared up at the building. Despite the confidence in Aryn's message to Light, all of them were slightly awed by the building. After all, when one specializes in dealing with war-grounds populated by supernatural beings that don't care if they destroy human constructions, one doesn't tend to see too many intact skyscrapers. Especially skyscrapers that you know are holding your best friend and (honorary) brother hostage.

"Well," Matt spoke up, "nothing's gonna happen if we just stand around out here. We might as well go in."

"Yeah..." Mello replied, "Do we wanna make a big impression?"

"What, you mean one of our impromptu performances?" Aryn asked, "Sure, I'm game. You?"

"Yeah."

"Yes, that sounds like fun. Besides,-" Near broke out in a mischevious grin, "-imagine how freaked L will be."

"So, we wanna go for mind-scarring?" Mello asked.

Three affirmative nods.

"Well, how about...umm....The Workout by Utada Hikaru?" Mello suggested. Because it was a mind-scarring song when they sang it, not because he _enjoyed_ the fact that Matt was his partner in it, of course! Mello didn't even know who he was defending himself against, but he was defending his reasoning against someone!

"Yeah, sure," Near agreed. There _might_ have been a hint of a blush on his face, but no one could prove anything!

"Let's go then!" Aryn cried. The others nodded and Matt and Mello headed in first, preparing for the performance they'd be putting on.

Matt pulled Mello to him as they walked into the lobby where Aizawa was about to check in and began dancing with him. (Mello, of course. Not Aizawa.) "I was dancing with a dirty-blond Texan." Aizawa stared.

Near grabbed Aryn and pulled her along with him as he began to dance down the lobby. "Charming accent but the music's playing too loud...for talking."

Mello slapped Matt's hands away and began use him as a pole while giving a proficient example of pole-dancing. "So I showed him, how people in the Far East get down."

Aryn pulled Near's arms up around her, then threw them down as she began to twirl on her own. "Push it up, push it down."

Matt stopped Mello's use of him as a pole, and pulled Mello to him as they twirled forward so they could rejoin the other two. "Pull it up, pull it down."

Near kept going with his promenade with Aryn, pulling her closer before dipping her down in a western style ballroom dip. "Keep it up, keep it down."

Mello tapped Matt's shoulder, scowling as he pulled back a couple of feet. "Now put me down."

Aryn sighed as she swooned into Near's waiting arms before she spun off to stand next to Mello. "What a workout."

As one, Aryn and Mello turned to their respective dance partners and danced toward them. They danced in sync, putting on quite a show. Aizawa was frozen stiff in fear of the crazy people in L's lobby. "If you want you can come, come, get it, get it."

Aryn and Mello reached their dance partners and began pushing them backward with a single finger pressing their chest. Near and Matt obediently walked backwards, eyes locked with their partner's. "If you don't, you may really regret it, 'gret it."

Near gulped, and there was a pronounced quiver in his voice as he sang the next line. "Up and down till your knees start shaking, shaking."

Matt almost purred out the next line as he stared at Mello through narrowed eyes. "Ain't it good to be alive, tonight?"

All four of them twined together in a complex dance as they neared Aizawa.

"One life." Aryn swung Matt around before spinning like a top while holding onto Mello's hands.

"Two time." Near and Matt grabbed Mello and Aryn respectively and swung them like they were beginning an American square dance.

"Three girls, four guys." For a moment it seemed like Aryn had split into three independent bodies while Matt had managed to spontaneously clone himself. Then the (weakest) glamour disappeared, leaving only one of each dancer.

"Five ripples running up and down my spine." Aryn undulated against Near five times to make her point.

"Six-point-oh." Matt and Mello reached Aizawa first and began a staring contest with each other. Aizawa was fearing for his life at that point. There was only so much craziness he could take.

"Make it sweet." Mello lost, but didn't really mind as he gave Matt his half-eaten bar of milk-chocolate.

"Drop another dime." As Near and Aryn reached Aizawa, the speaker turned on. However, it seemed to have been turned on by accident in the middle of a fight.

"L, do you want your heirs to get shot because they came to visit you?"

"Light-kun, I believe it is time for all killer crazy men to return to their cells. That means you."

"HELL NO! I'm watching out for my family!"

"No, Light-kun. Return to your cell, before I make you."

"L, give me the Odin-damned microphone before I set Kina on your ass again."

Aryn glanced over at Matt, mouthing the word 'again' questioningly. Matt shrugged, before cracking a smile and jerking his thumb at Aizawa, who was staring at the world in general with a look best described as 'How-the-Hell-did-I-end-up-associating-with-these-psychos?'

"Think he caught the line about L's heirs?" Near asked, having caught the exchange.

Mello scoffed. "Of course he did. That was the first thing we could hear of their fight. We probably just aren't what he thought L's heirs would be like." As an afterthought, Mello added, "If he ever thought of L as _having_ heirs."

Aryn nodded. "True, and he has no way to know that we aren't acting quite the way L knows his heirs to act. Plus I ain't quite an heir." She raised her voice to address Aizawa in person, as opposed to talking about him like he wasn't in the room. "OI! Afro-dude looking at the world with a vacant expression! Care to take us to our best friend, who appears to be kicking the shit out of your employer?"

Aizawa jerked out of his daze and began fumbling for his gun. However, he did not have his gun on him anymore. "Where?" he asked dazedly. A chuckle drew his attention.

Near had his gun and was swinging it lazily around one finger.

"Looking for something?" Aryn drawled, arms crossed over her chest. "Now, we come in peace. Take us to your leader. And all the other cliched alien lines."

"Now see here," Aizawa blustered, "you can't just burst into a private skyscraper and demand to see someone. Most especially L." The fact that these four teens had done just that did not appear to have registered in his mind.

Mello frowned in mock confusion. "We aren't asking to see L. At least I'm not. did anyone else say anything about L?" He looked around, receiving negative responses from everyone, before looking back at Aizawa. "Nope! You're the only one who said anything about L."

Aizawa frowned in real confusion. "But then...she-" He pointed to Aryn, who grinned and waved. "-said to take you people to my leader. That would be L."

Near laughed. "So, you're saying L is the highest ranking person in this building?"

Matt cut Aizawa off before he could respond. "Don't answer that. Now, it just so happens that there are five people in this building that out-rank L."

Aryn giggled. "Yeah! Let's see. There's me. Mattie-boy."

Matt frowned in annoyance. "I've told you not to call me that!"

Aryn ignored him. "Mel-Mel of the chocolate."

Mello was used to the jabs about his name, so was able to completely ignore that part. However, digs about his chocolate crossed the line. "Chocolate is the food of the gods! Don't diss the chocolate!"

Aryn glanced at him. "Yeah, sure. Mayan boy. Anyway. There's Near the albino."

Near waved, not minding being called an albino.

"And of course, the one we came to visit. LIGHT!" Aryn bellowed at the ceiling. "STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR DETECTIVE AND GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! THERE'S CONCERNED FRIENDS HERE!"

Aizawa stared. Again. Really, he needed to get used to the fact that life seemed to take a sadistic pleasure in fucking with world-views. First there's the fact that L the detective was a pale-faced slob. Then the fact that Yagami-san's son, who had helped solve several cases in the past, was the best suspect for Kira. And now the fact that five teenagers apparently outranked the best detective in the world. Anything more, and he didn't think his afro was going to survive it.

* * *

Light blinked. Then glanced at the intercom, where a red light blinked back at him. Then he blinked again. "Shit." Then he realized what Aryn had just said. "And he's _not_ my detective, idiot!"

L blinked at him balefully from the corner of the room, where he was tied up with a large amount of twine that Light had pulled from nowhere. L had gotten annoyed with Light for some reason that Light didn't understand, and tried to get Light back in the cell. So Light had neutralized the annoyance. (Light was rather afraid of what Mello would say upon seeing L. The word bondage did come to mind rather rapidly.)

"LIGHT! GET YOUR PRISSY ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW, OR YOU'RE GETTING REACQUAINTED WITH THE FLOOR!" Light winced. He really didn't think it had been a good idea to teach Mello martial arts, however much they may be needed in L-5's line of work.

"Just a moment!" Light called as he picked up L in order to Flash them both down to the lobby, "You know, L is really heavy for someone who looks as emaciated as him!"

It was Near who replied this time. "Don't try the poor me approach. You've been doing things worse than picking up a sugarholic for longer than anyone can remember."

Light sighed. "I know. It's just...I'm tired of it."

"Heart to heart later, when we aren't in the middle of a lobby where anyone could just walk in and here us!" Matt ordered.

"Okay, okay," Light sighed as he flashed down to the lobby.

Aizawa bit off a startled curse at the sudden appearance of two people in the lobby who definitely did _not_ get there by normal means. Sector L-5, being comprised of Matt, Mello, Aryn, Near and Light, treated it as commonplace that people should appear from midair. Which, to them, it was.

"...Why is L tied up with twine?" Near asked, wanting to make sure that he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing, and that his eyes were not playing tricks on him.

Light shrugged. "He was being annoying," he said, as if that explained everything. It didn't.

Aryn sighed and smacked Light across the back of his head. "YOU are annoying, but we don't tie you up."

Mello began cracking up. "Bondage...kinky!"

Light glared. "That's not it! Kami, how are you such an idiot, and still have an IQ worthy of the label genius?"

Matt walked over to Light and stared at him. "Have you been taking your medicine?"

Light sighed. "No. Detective over there-" He jerked his thumb behind his shoulder at L, who had been set down in the corner. L blinked back innocently. "-wouldn't let me take it. Apparently, he thought they would let me kill people with my mind."

Matt, the official mother hen of the group, (Yes they had taken a vote and decided that Matt was the mother hen, because he was the one who made sure they didn't starve when they were on their own and made sure they all took their medicine.) rounded on L.

Light felt sorry for L. The man was only doing what he thought was best. After all, Light was Kira, even if he was being controlled by a killer sentient notebook at the time. And, to pay him back for his attempts, a fifteen (almost sixteen) year old teenager was going to rip him a new one.

* * *

Poor L, yeah?

The dance scene came to be entirely because of the first two lines. I listened to the song, and started laughing at the thought of Mello being a Texan. So of course I had to add that in.

...My finger hurts. I gave myself a deep paper-cut on the trip of my index finger and now I can't type without pain. which just goes to show how dedicated I am to this story.

Later everyone!


	7. Light's Medicine and Aryn's Flashback

So, you guys are finally getting to see a hint of the main plot, which I didn't actually come up with until I was writing Chapters 9, 10 and 12. Yes, I'm skipping 11 in that. Yes, there is a good reason for that. No, that does not imply there will be any citrus in this story. But yeah, you get a hint of it. Also, I'd just like to say one thing: Sometimes the best way to lie is to lay all the facts bare. Chances are, the other person is going to get so confused that they're going to forget what they were saying.

Disclaimer: You' don't wanna see what Death Note would've been like if I'd written it. This? About a fourth as crazy as that would have been, plus there'd have been large amounts of visible blood, guts and gore. Yes, I have major problems.

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Chapter 7 - Light's Medicine and Aryn's Flashback**  


* * *

An hour later, Matt was still going strong and L had been reduced to little more than a pile of flesh. Matt was just _good_ at lectures like that, able to get under even L's skin. Light felt _seriously_ guilty for setting Matt on L.

Then Matsuda and Mogi came in, worried about reporting their failure to find the thing with the long name they couldn't remember to L. And they stopped stock still, failure at their task no longer the first thing on their minds.

"W-why are there strange people in the lobby?" Matsuda asked, slightly befuddled, before he recognized them, "Hang on. You're Light's friends, aren't you? The ones who were in the cab yesterday?"

Mello turned disbelieving eyes on Light. "You took him along with you...AND YOU DIDN'T WIPE HIS MEMORY?!"

Light winced. "Maybe?"

Aryn sighed. "Guys, maybe we could go somewhere a bit more comfortable than the lobby. Say...somewhere with chairs?"

Light perked up. "This calls for...Agent Mente, defender of-ACK! Mah tongue! Ah need mah tongue!"

Near glared at him, having grabbed Light's tongue in the middle of his tirade. "Then don't launch into a bad parody of shoujo anime characters. I don't even know why you watch them. They have no plot."

Light glared, then turned his attention to Matt and L. "Fine. MATT! I need you to stop RYNO-ing L! I need to scan and find somewhere we can flash to that will be more comfortable."

Matt looked over at him. "Sure, but I'm starting up again afterwards. The idiot has no idea how dangerous it is for any of us to be without our meds. Speaking of which..." Matt searched through his pockets, found what he was looking for and tossed a small bottle to Light. "There you go. A four days worth supply of your meds."

Mello grinned and ruffled Matt's already messy hair. Matt glared and attempted to get it to fall in some semblance of order. (He failed miserably.) "That's our Matty-boy! Looking out for everybody, and being kinda creepy in that he manages to get at least five different bottles of what to a normal human is poison onto an airplane!"

"Poison?" Aizawa asked, still a little unclear on the details, but having figured out that the three boys were L's heirs, the girl was Light's twin sister, and somehow they all knew each other and were best friends. Oh, and they had magic. Mustn't forget that they had magic.

"Yeah," Mello flapped his hand dismissively, "See, none of us are human. Matty-boy and I are half-human though, and Aryn and Light are, near as we can figure it, bout a quarter human. Near ain't human at all though. He's some sort of-"

"Aryn," Near interrupted angrily, "are you absolutely sure that it is wrong to hurt Mello because he is being an idiot?"

"Near," Aryn chided, "we've talked about this. You can't hurt Mello severely in front of an audience."

Mogi, Matsuda and Aizawa stared. Were these kids absolutely insane? Well, they did know _L_ while growing up. Of course they were. As one, they looked from the quintuplet of arguing teens to L, who was sitting in a corner, staring at the world with a (more) vacant (than usual) expression.

"Do you think they broke him?" Matsuda whispered. All three took a moment to think about the possible implications of the Great Detective L getting broken while they were in the room.

All three shuddered in horror at the exact same time.

"Kami, I hope not," Aizawa replied, "Also, Mogi, I think you're the one who has had the least experience with these people, judging from the fact that Matsuda recognized them. Be prepared for everything you ever knew to be proven wrong."

Mogi looked at him, not saying anything. Then again, he rarely ever did. Aizawa had worked with Mogi often enough to be able to tell that there was a hint of fear in Mogi's gaze.

"ALRIGHT!" Light yelled, startling the trio of detectives out of their thoughts, "Enough arguing! I agree with Aryn's earlier sentiment, that we need to go somewhere more comfortable. So, let's do that."

"But you doesn't have any idea where anything is in the building," Matsuda pointed out.

Light looked over at Matsuda. "Hmm, forgot about you people."

Sweat-drops all around!

"Anyway, I don't need to know where anything is in this monster of a building." Light gestured grandoisely. "As long as _someone_ does, I can find out pretty damn quickly. See, there's a reason my code-name is Mente. I deal in minds."

THUMP!

"Light, you really need to work on how you phrase that," Mello quipped as he looked at the fallen form of Matsuda.

"Yeah. Light, when you put it like that, it sounds like you're gonna kill someone, steal their mind and sell it to someone," Matt added, smiling a little at the fact that while Light may be jaded in so many ways, he was still able to act like a child sometimes.

Admittedly, an insane child who took joy in pranking others and had driven several shrinks to visiting their colleagues, but a child nonetheless. It was nothing short of a miracle, given what he and Aryn had been through in their lives.

Light frowned. "What an absolutely disgusting idea. Who would want to buy something like that anyway?"

Ner sighed. "Light, that's exactly what we mean. Maybe you could try 'I have an affinity for mental magic.' That sounds far less homicidal," Near pointed out.

Light pouted. "But that makes it sound like I'm...an emotionless robot or something! No offense, Near."

"None taken," Near assured him, "however, I do believe it is time for you to take your medicine as your mental state becoming very flighty."

"Right," Light said, shaking out three pills. They were small, orange and appeared to be glowing slightly. Mogi twitched, fearing the worst, given what that blond kid had said about poison, but held still as Light gulped down the pills.

And then he belched out a tongue of flame. The detectives stumbled back, L-5 just continued on with what they were doing and L shuddered in his corner. (He had become untied at some point.)

"Much better. Good for the sinuses. Now," Light rounded on the L-heap-in-a-corner. "I think it's time that we moved this party elsewhere. Now, L, this won't hurt a bit."

Light grabbed L's temples and moved L's head so that their eyes met. Auburn stared into dark gray as Light scanned L's mind for the layout of the building they were in. (NO, he did not scan anything else. No matter how tempting it might have been.)

"All right! I found a place that is a fully-equipped apartment in here! There are only three bedrooms, but it's not like we can't change that, right?" Light asked of L-5.

Aryn grinned. "Of course! Near and I can share a room, and Matt and Mello can share a room. You can sleep alone, Light, since we all know how bad it gets if there's anyone in the same room as you when you try and sleep."

"Not what I meant, Aryn! But, I suppose we could set it up like that." Light conceded, before turning to glare at Near. "But I better not hear any noises in the night. I value my sleep."

Both Aryn and Near flushed a shade of red normally found only Matt's hair (which, with the aid of magic, was even redder than a tomato). Almost unnoticeably, Mello flushed as well.

Matt grinned. "I think ya broke em, Light."

Light inspected Aryn and Near, who were standing stock still in shock, and did indeed appear to be experiencing the mental equivalent of a Dreaded Blue Screen of Death™. "I think you're right."

"Now see here!" Aizawa found his formerly missing voice. "Light, you're supposed to be in a cell, proving you aren't Kira! And how dare you presume that you people can stay here?"

For a moment, Light and Matt stared. Then they laughed.

"You actually believe that you can have any say in where we stay?" Matt asked.

"Let me answer that in four words. No. Way. In. Hell. This is the first time in six months that we've all seen each other without having to go to a battle or political meeting of some type right afterwards. Where one of us goes, the others go. Well, with a few exceptions. I ain't into incest, and none of us are into orgies. Well, I ain't. And I don't think Aryn is. But I ain't gonna speak for the rest-Ow! What was that for, Matt?" Light rubbed the back of his head where Matt had smacked it.

Matt glared at him, orange goggles making his eyes appear demonic. "You were rambling about sexual tendencies. I would prefer if you didn't."

Mello glared too. "You really don't have to make us out to be some sort of sexual deviants or something."

"But you-" Light began, but was cut off by a message Mello sent via the mind connection. (The reason they didn't use it all the time was that it required large amount of concentration, something which was lost when the entire group got together. Well, that and the fact that if they used it too much, the bond would snap like a rubber band and instead of five minds, there'd be one.)  
_  
Finish that sentence and DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!_ Mello smiled sweetly at Light when his mouth snapped closed with an audible click. "Oh, by the way," Mello looked over at the near-catatonic L in the corner. "you might want to fix him before Watari sees him. The man did used to be in SWAT after all."

Aryn laughed, having managed to re-boot her mind from the shock and embarrassment. "And he grows a Hitler-caterpillar on his face!"

Light looked over at the quivering lump in the corner, having been attempting to block the fact that _he_ was the reason for the normally strong detective to reach such a state out of his mind. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, what do you guys think about letting them in on what we are and what we do?"

Near nodded. "I think it would be a good idea. It is getting rather tiresome having to explain away bruises and broken bones to Roger, simply because the healings are starting to slide off a little."

Mogi twitched. His little sister was about these teens' age, and she had never broken a bone in her life! What could these kids be doing that would lead to them being able to dismiss a broken bone as a matter of course and troublesome to explain?

Matt turned to Aryn. "What do you think Aryn? This is a big decision, one that needs to be unanimous. Near, Mello and I have reason to want L to know what we do, and so does Light, but you have no such obligation. So, it's up to you. Do you want to risk it?"

Aryn blinked, processing what Matt had just said, before she laughed. "Matty-boy. You really need to curb those mother-henning tendencies. You know Light and I share a closer connection than the rest of us. Do you honestly think that he would have suggested it if he thought I was going to be angry? I'm fine with it. You know I'd be fine with anything as long as it helps us."

Mello sighed. "What happened to getting us a room? I dunno bout you, but my body is saying it's about midnight, and I am sleepy!"

"Oh yeah!" Matt rummaged through his pockets again, before finding the bottle he was looking for and tossing a pill to Mello, Aryn and Near and popping the last one for himself. "Jet lag pills," he explained at seeing Matsuda (who had recently been revived from his insensate position on the floor) look at him questioningly. "Guaranteed to keep you awake until the sun sets."

"Mello was right though." Aryn frowned. "I can't keep up the shrinking much longer, and I don't really want to be crushed under large amounts of luggage. Plus we really need to introduce ourselves to these poor detectives. Remember how you guys felt in the beginning?"

"Yeah! How could I forget? I thought we were being filmed by a hidden camera crew a starring in some new TV show. _Fuck My Life!_ You can watch poor innocent people returning to their home country get assaulted by fourteen-year-old government agents!" Mello threw his hands up in the air and glared at Aryn.  
_  
"My point being, _you were confused as all hell and thinking there was something going on, other than the truth. They're older than you were and-"

"-right here and able to hear everything you are saying."

Aryn squeaked and turned around, staring at the corner, where L had recovered from his Matt-lecture/magic-exists induced coma. Well, he was standing up and looking at the world with a spark of life, at least. However, L was most definitely not what Aryn was seeing.  
_

* * *

"Light, we have to get out of here. I don't think Lujayn is going to be able to keep it together much longer. The captors are-" Eleven-year-old Aryn whispered frantically to Light, glancing worriedly over at the corner where their best friend, Lujayn, lay. she'd just been taken for another session of 'serving' their captors. It always left her near catatonic, and Aryn felt horrible for thinking this, but she was so glad that she wasn't anywhere near as pretty as Lujayn._

"-right here and able to hear everything you are saying." A perfectly emotionless voice stated from right behind her. Aryn turned around, eyes wide with fear as she turned around slowly, praying it had been her imagination. It wasn't.

A six-foot-tall man stood over her. Aryn knew he wasn't human, but it still hurt, even after nearly five years in the cell, to see her father's face staring down at her with such hate and disgust.

"I think that you are finally old enough to serve us. Just like your little friend over there." The absolute monster jerked his thumb over in the direction of the catatonic Lujayn, an ugly leer covering his face.

Light stared worriedly after his sister as she was dragged away, already knowing that it would pointless to try and save her. Their captors were just too strong. He would have to settle with comforting her afterwards.  


* * *

Aryn began to shake slightly and a windstorm whipped around her as she stared through L.

Near was also looking at her in concern, wanting to go over a comfort his girlfriend, but knowing that he wouldn't be able to help.

Light groaned. "Oh hell. A flashback." He turned to a hyperventilating Aryn and grabbed her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes. "Aryn, listen to me. We are not in the cell. We escaped, remember? Matt? Mello? Near? Remember them? T-2? L-5? Kira-bastard? Don't worry. The _bastards_ are dead. They're never going to hurt anyone again."

Aryn shuddered and collapsed against Light, sobbing quietly. Light kept on soothing Aryn gently as he looked up and saw Near, Mello, Matt, L, Aizawa, Mogi and Matsuda staring at them, but with different emotions.

Near, Mello and Matt knew about the twins' five-year-long imprisonment by demons after they were forced to watch their parents get murdered, and they figured that something about L's voice had triggered a flashback. Thus, they all looked conflicted, wanting to go and help Light comfort Aryn, but knowing (from painful experience) that if one valued one's health, one did not get near Aryn when she was in a flashback unless one was her twin.

L looked vaguely startled, as if he was trying to figure out what exactly he had done that had warranted such a reaction. (Well, that and the bastards being dead thing. That was just confusing, and definitely adding to Light's Kira-points, _damn_ the fact that this was likely all in his head. And also wishing that _he_ had had someone to comfort him like that when he was younger.)

Aizawa was rather worried. He'd seen reactions like this when there was a survivor to a homicide. Admittedly, none of those people had magic, or were snapped into shock by the voice of the best detective in the world, but the basic premise was there. Light's twin (from what he'd been able to gather) was going into shock due to some unknown trauma in her past because of L's _voice_. Aizawa suddenly had second thoughts (Well, more like forty-fifth, but second sounds better.) about working for L. Was the man at all related to whatever had happened to the teen before him?

Matsuda just sighed. For all that his co-workers all thought of him as a bit of a ditz, he was really gifted when it came to knowing when to go with the flow and when to kick out on his own. This was one of those times when he needed to go with the flow and wait for answers. Besides, if you pushed anyone in the Yagami family, _you_ were likely to be the one getting pushed out of the way. It was rather like the 'Unstoppable force meets immovable object' saying. The unstoppable force wins. So, Matsuda settled down and waited.

Mogi really had no clue what was going on. He felt like everyone else knew more than he did (They did.) and was therefore rather disconcerted. So Mogi settled for a concerned glance at the girl holding onto Light Yagami, who appeared to always be at the center of whatever it was that was going on.

Light sighed in frustration. Aryn didn't seem to be responding at all to what he was saying. This was the worst flashback than she had had in a long time. He was going to have to try to coax Aryn to follow his mind to the others, hopefully snapping her out of it. Unfortunately there was rather a large chance that he would end up getting sucked into a flashback, which was the reason that that method was only to be used as a last resort.

"Okay Aryn. I want you to listen to my voice. I'm going to reach out and touch your mind. When I do, I want you to follow my mind. You can trust the people I'm going to lead you to, okay?" And so on and so forth. Light kept talking as he slowly and carefully reached out with his mind and brushed it against Aryn's. He gently led her mind to the other parts of the bond, where the twins' combined mind found Matt, Mello and Near. Aryn recognized the feel of their minds and finally snapped out of her flashback.

"Better now?" Light asked, concern for his twin dancing in his eyes. Aryn nodded. "That's good. That was one of the worst ones you've had in a long time."

Aryn nodded. "Yeah. Th-I'd heard those words before. And they led to the worst hour of my lives."

Light hissed through his teeth. "Odin's hellfire, I'd forgotten about that." He pulled Aryn closer to him. "Don't worry. No one is _ever_ going to do that to you again."

Near cautiously walked closer. "Are you okay, Aryn?"

Aryn smiled shakily at Near. "Yeah. Hold me?"

"Of course."

And just like that, the detectives and L got to see a different side to Light, Matt, Mello and Near. Instead of seeing five different teens who take joy in turning world views upside down, they were seeing five teens with broken pasts and dangerous futures as they consoled each other and reaffirmed the fact that they were there for each other.

And then the quartet of adults saw something they most definitely were not supposed to see just yet.

L-5 let go of their glamours.

Suddenly, they weren't just a group of teenagers consoling each other. Each was strange and magnificent and frightening and deadly, but they were no longer human.

Light and Aryn were botth sporting a pair of dark brown/black feathery wings that glittered red in the lights. Near had grown a pair of black and red bat wings while Matt grew a pair of black wolf ears and what looked like a tail. Mello didn't seem to have any visible changes, but one could tell just from looking at him that he wasn't human; there was just something subtly wrong with him.

For a moment there was silence, and then...

THUMP!

Apparently Matsuda wasn't one for shocks of that magnitude, especially at ten in the morning.

The second Matsuda hit the floor, all five teens snapped around, ready for a fight, and the rest of the changes could be seen.

Near had gained a pair of vampire fangs while Mello now had slitted yellow eyes and snake fangs.

Aizawa joined Matsuda in blissful unconsciousness at the sight of glowing yellow eyes and poison-green fangs. Mogi just shrugged, having always been one to accept the world around him as ever-changing, and headed on in. Kira had to be caught, whether magic was real or not after all, and none of the others seemed to be in any condition to do anything about him/her/them. Whoever or how many Kiras there actually were.

L-5 blinked as one as they relaxed out of their fight-ready posture, and then Mello voiced their thoughts rather succinctly.

"Well, shit."

* * *

I will congratulate anyone who can successfully guess what either Matt, Mello, Near, Aryn or Light is. They're really random, but still awesome.

Yes, Aizawa is afraid of snakes, which mello quite resembles at the moment.

Also, can you tell that I'm slightly sadistic? I _always_ give my characters traumatic pasts.

Have to go. My friend is kidnapping me for the weekend soon.

Ja ne, minna-san!


	8. Mello's Fangs and L's Prisoner

This chapter was pissing me off as I wrote it. It took me about five times the amount of time I thought it would to get them introducing themselves.

Disclaimer: Really? We've covered this. I. Don't. Own. Anything. Mentioned. Except. Aryn. Lujayn. And. Realm. Theory. Was that slow enough for you?

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Mello's Fangs and L's Prisoner**

* * *

"Would Light-kun care to explain the fact that he has suddenly sprouted wings?" L asked, ever logical, as he shuffled forward to take a closer look at them.

"Er...Should we just introduce ourselves formally?" Light asked the others uncertainly before he scowled and jerked his wing away from L, who had grabbed it and was testing it to see how sharp the feathers were. (Very sharp. Sharp enough to be used as a weapon, which they had been on multiple occasion.) Light's wings were very sensitive. And ticklish, which was strange for an Angel's wings. None of the doctors he had gone to had ever had any explanation.

Mello shrugged. "Fine with me." He went cross-eyed staring at L, who was staring deep into Mello's eyes, perhaps trying to figure out how they could change so quickly. "...you do know that I'm part basilisk right? You might want to move." L moved.

Near laughed slightly, even as he was forced to swipe at L with one of his wings' claws so the man would leave his wings alone. "That does sound wonderful, but I feel like we are forgetting something."

Matt frowned, ears twitching as L turned his attention from Near's wings to Matt's ears. "Didn't you say something about Soichiro being in solitary due to some sort of misplaced parental instincts or something, Light? Might be a good idea to get the man out. Knock a bit of sense into his head and all. Then again, that's just me. That might be what Near's thinking of."

Aryn nodded thoughtfully, absently twitching her wing out of reach of L as he attempted to get his hands on one of her wings. "It is pretty poor repayment for everything he's done for us to just leave him languishing in that cell."

"So it's settled? We're going to-MPH! WAH DAH HELL, ASHAHRD?" Mello glared at L as the man grew fed up of being so casually avoided in his attempts to examine the decidedly non-human parts of the apparently human beings in front of him, and decided that examining Mello's fangs would be interesting, and possibly gain the group's attention. Therefore, L grabbed Mello's mouth in the middle of his sentence and pried it opened, staring in fascination at the needle-thin, inch-long fangs protruding from his gums.

And then he recoiled back as the fangs his fingers were perilously close to began to secrete a sickly-green venom. Mello glared.

"Hands out of my mouth."

"I was attempting to take a look at the non-human characteristics each of you possesses." L explained.

"Don't care." Mello said dismissively. "Hands out of my mouth, and I wasn't kidding about the part basilisk thing. It's far enough back that one glance isn't fatal, but about half a minute _is_ for pure humans. LIke _you_."

"Oi! Can we stop bickering like immature children and get Soichiro out of the cell?" Light clapped his hands grandly, silencing Mello and L. "Mello, don't bite L. L, please don't touch." (And why oh why did Light suddenly feel like he was babysitting two toddlers?)

"That does sound like a good idea," Near agreed. "Should we take the two bodies on the floor?" He gestured to the comatose Matsuda and Aizawa.

"Probably a good idea." Aryn said as she walked over and slung Matsuda over her shoulder. "Light, Send me an image of the control room, or wherever we can talk to Soichiro without giving him a heart attack."

"Yeah, causing heart attacks is a bad thing. Don't want to be called Kira, after all." Matt joked as he hoisted Aizawa up. "Send some of those images over this way!"

"Mello, can you get L?" Light asked, receiving a nod from Mello as he grabbed L's arm. "Kay then. Here's the control room."

With that Light sent an image of how the control room looked earlier that morning to the others, Flashing there himself, knowing they'd be right behind him.

Mogi looked up when all of a sudden there were people in the room that most definitely had not been there before. He sighed. "Could you please keep the magic to a minimum? Some people are actually trying to focus on catching Kira. Oh, and the wings are rather disturbing."

"Sorry." Matt did not sound sorry at all.

"Okay. Now, which switch is for Soichiro's cell?" Light muttered to himself as he began searching around among the microphones and boxes that lay in front of L's abandoned chair at the front of the room. "Oh, my god, I can't find it! I can't find the button and now Soichiro's going to languish in his cell of Doom and Despair for eternity ALL BECAUSE I COULDN'T FIND A BUTTON! I FEEL SO ASHAMED!!!!!!!!!!!"

Aryn, Matt, Mello and Near blinked, looked at each other, looked at Light, looked back at each other and promptly burst into hysterical laughter.

Mogi looked over at the spazzing teens at the front of the room and sighed. _Idiots. Why do I always end up on the same cases as the insane people?_

"The farthest right sound box, the right button, Light-kun." L told Light who was rapidly working his way into a completely random panic over a tiny thing.

"Oh. Right. I knew that." Light said, calming down. Aryn snorted. "I DID!"

"Oh sure, like you knew it when Aryn spiked your chips and you got drunk and decided that Tokyo needed to have at least one horse/human crossbreed?" Mello snorted.

"I don't remember that." Light said slowly as he turned towards Aryn. "But if you touch my chips, YOU MUST DIE!" With that, Light began chasing Aryn around, and both of the winged teens took to the air.

"You do realize that when Light figures out that it was you, and not Aryn, who spiked his chips, you are going to die, right?" Near asked as the three teens on the ground stared at their friends as they chased each other through the air.

Light skidded to a halt in midair as Near said that. The part of his mind that had been wondering why the hell the ceiling was so high when he knew it hadn't been earlier halted it's musings as all his considerable fury redirected from Aryn to Mello.

"Mello!" Light growled.

Mello realized his mistake and a quick glance at Near confirmed his suspicions. Near was wearing a very uncharacteristic smirk as Mello was forced to take cover as Light attempted to dive-bomb him.

"You bastard! You planned this!" Mello yelped as he began running in random directions while Light attacked him.

Near smiled serenely as he began to twirl one lock of hair between his fingers. "I have no idea what you are referring to, Mello."

"OI! Light!" Matt yelled, "Terribly sorry to interrupt and all, but weren't you like, planning on getting Soichiro out of the cell and...I dunno...INTRODUCING US BEFORE WE END UP IN A FUCKING LAB GETTING DISSECTED!!!!!!!!!!!?????????"

Aryn and Light dropped down out of the air at Matt's (unholy loud) reminder of what happened to (non-violent) non-humans who got found out by humans.

"Thanks, Matt," Light said as he ran a shaky hand through his hair, trying to get it back to its usual order. Sadly, he was fighting a losing battle. "We should get Soichiro out. Let's see-" He turned back to the array of buttons, boxes, microphones and screens.  "- it was the farthest left sound box?" Experimentally, Light clicked the button and tested to see who responded when he spoke. "Testing, testing one two three, answer now if you hear me."

Mello snorted before bursting out in laughter.

Misa raised her head slowly, the heavy metal of the blindfold hampering her movements. "Stalker-san?" she asked wearily. "Is that you?"

Matt and Near stared, not having noticed the small screen in the corner that was showing the tightly bound girl. Mello's laughter stopped at the sound of such a defeated voice. Light and Aryn were forcibly reminded of Lujayn when she had totally given up any hope of surviving their captors and escaping.

Light swore before turning on L. "What the hell are you doing to her?" he snarled. Sure, Misa might not have been his favorite person, but hell. This was inhumane! It was torture! It was too damn close to what Light and Aryn had gone through for five years.

L had to suppress a very strong urge to take a step back. The wings on Light's back suddenly looked very menacing.

"Fuck it." Light growled, turning around to glower darkly at the screen showing such a disregard for human decency. "I'm going to get her."

"Light-kun, Amane-san is a suspect, and it is suspected that her eyes are a tool for her to use to kill people." L interjected, irrationally hoping to keep his case from getting away from him. How was it that, in the space of 48 hours, his entire life had been turned upside down and the biggest case in the world essentially stolen from him? Everything he had done to try and catch Kira had been overturned by the five teens in front of him.

_Or_, L mused, looking at Light as the boy flared his wings in agitation, _is it just one teen?  
_  
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN! JUST BECAUSE SHE MIGHT BE KIRA DOESN'T MEAN THAT SHE ISN'T HUMAN! FUCK THE KIRA CASE! IT'S NO EXCUSE TO TREAT HUMANS LIKE THEY'RE WORSE THAN ANIMALS!" Light spun around again and Flashed down to Misa's cell, intent on releasing the girl from her bindings.

"Misa, can you hear me?" Light asked softly as he walked towards the tied up blonde.

"L-Light-kun?" Misa asked shakily. It was obvious that her imprisonment had affected her deeply.

"That's right, Misa. It's Light. I'm getting you out of here." He gently untied the knot on the blindfold she was wearing. "Misa, I should warn you, I look a little...different right now. Just stay calm, and remember that I'm not going to hurt you."

"Why would I ever be afraid of Light-kun?" Misa asked as Light pulled the blindfold away. She gasped as she saw exactly why she might be afraid of Light.

"L-Light-kun has wings..." Misa said in awe as she stared at him, before understanding suddenly came to her face. "You aren't Light-kun at all are you?"

Light glanced at the girl before laughing slightly as he began undoing the full-body straightjacket she had been put in. "I assure you that I am Light Yagami. To be more specific, I am Light Yagami-Arget-Suino."

"What?" Misa asked, extremely confused, and praying that this wasn't a dream, that her Light-kun really had come to rescue her, that he was an angel sent from Kami, just for her.

"Calm down. I promise you'll end up with an explanation soon, okay? Now, can you stand?" Misa tried to stand when Light set her down on the floor, but a month's worth of muscle disuse and bad nutrition had taken their toll, and she would have crumpled to the floor had Light not caught her. "That's okay then. There a plenty of chairs in the control room."

And suddenly, they weren't in the room that Misa had been held in for so long. They were in the control room, and Aryn and Matt, being the ones with pasts closest to what had happened to Misa, were waiting with a chair.

"There you go. Just rest there while I gather up...erm...crap! Aryn? Who all is missing at the moment?" Light shot a pleading look at Aryn.

Misa stared. Light had never been so...not-put-together with her! And who was this 'Aryn' that Light was talking to without honorifics? WHY DID EVERYONE SEEM NOT HUMAN! Misa's head really hurt, both from confusion and the fact that she hadn't had a decent...anything in almost a month!

Aryn sighed. "Light, my _dearest_ brother, I know you're a little sleep-deprived, but really? You are the one who was doing the planning for this introduction. Why should I know who you were planning on inviting?"

Seeing that Light was about to indulge in some good-old-fashioned whining, Matt took the speedy alternative. He smacked Light over the back of the head. Unfortunately, Matt over-judged how prepared Light was for a Matt-style smack (being ten times stronger than even the worst of rage-filled pervert slaps) and Light's face connected with the floor. A sharp crack was heard.

"BUCK! Batt, I tink oo boke by dose!" Light yelled, holding his nose, which did indeed appear to be broken.

Matt glared behind orange goggles, black ears twitching in annoyance. "Suck it up and get Soichiro. It ain't like we don't know you've had worse! Oh, and it might be a good idea to get Wammy-man as well. I do not want to get on his bad side." Light just glared at him, blood dripping from his nose. Matt sighed. "Fine, I'll heal your nose, and _then_ will you get Wammy-man and Soichiro?"

Matt reached out, his hand sizzling with some sort of energy. He touched Light's broken nose. (As opposed to his other nose?) The onlookers flinched as a loud crackle and the smell of burnt sugar filled the air.

Aryn got bored, figuring that nothing interesting was going to happen anytime soon, so she grabbed Near and flew them both up to the ceiling, where they began cuddling. They couldn't cuddle in one of the chairs, cause they were too small, and the floor, well, Odin only knew what had been on it.

Light grinned at Matt, his nose healed. Then Light grabbed Matt's still outstretched hand and threw the red-head to the floor.

"We're even. And, yes, now I _will_ get Watari and Soichiro." Light smirked evilly at Matt as he lay on the floor before walking over to the microphones and (finally) finding the right sound box.

"Oi! Soichiro! Why the hell did you incarcerate yourself?"

Soichiro looked up. "L, you know very well why I asked to be locked up in this cell."

"Wha?" Light asked before smacking himself on the head in realization. "I forgot to turn the scrambler off! Hang on, just need to...zap the box and..." A bolt of black lightning shot the box in front of Light. "VOILA! No more voice scrambler! Now, I repeat my earlier question. WHY THE HELL DID YOU LOCK YOURSELF UP?"

Soichiro sighed. "Light, isn't it obvious? I asked to be locked up until you were proven to not be Kira. I felt I had failed you as a father."

Light blinked for a moment, shocked, before he collapsed in laughter. "You...idiot! You were my parent for about one-third of my life! Seven years, out of seventeen! And that's not even mentioning the millennia of my other life! Trust me, you would not have failed as a father had I been Kira."

"Hang on...Weren't you supposed to be in a cell too?"

Light laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head, even though Soichiro couldn't see it. "Yeah...about that....Aryn and the others decided to stage a rescue mission. As a result, we have to introduce ourselves to the team. So yeah, it's been suggested that we retrieve you from the cell and...hang on a second." Light had suddenly heard a creak from the ceiling. He looked up and sighed in annoyance. "NEAR! ARYN! WOULD YOU MIND GETTING OFF THE CEILING! I'M WORRIED YOU'RE GONNA FALL ON ONE OF THE HUMANS! Sorry about that, Soichiro."

"I take it you'll be introducing _everything_?" Soichiro asked.

"Yup! So, if you don't mind, we're gonna be busting you out!" Light Flashed down to Soichiro's cell and, without waiting for Soichiro to answer the implied question in his last sentence, grabbed Soichiro's arm and Flashed them back up to the control room.

For a moment there was silence as Soichiro adjusted to his rapid location change and Light tried to decide where to go next. Then he realized that he had no freaking idea where the crap Watari would be.

"Err...anyone know where I could find Watari? Only, I have no fricking clue and Matt's right, we do need him to be here when we introduce ourselves, cause as much as I know we've gone through worse, it fucking hurts to be shot. Yes I'm speaking from experience, no you don't wanna know how I am speaking from experience, but I still have no clue where Watari is and oh Odin I can't BREATHE!" Light bent over double gasping for breath.

Aryn laughed from the ceiling, where she and Near were still cuddling. "Light, you know that's what happens when you start talking fast. Why do you keep on doing it?"

Light tiredly flipped her off.

Mello scoffed. "Duh, Light. Wammy-man's probably in the kitchen, getting sweets for Detective over there." He gestured to L, who was staring in confusion at Light, trying to figure out how the teen had said all that without breathing.

"Oh yeah, you're right! Thanks Mel-Mel!" Light chirped (miraculously recovered from his lack of breath) before flashing off to the kitchen, where he did indeed find Watari stirring some sort of sugary confection. "Hey old man! Got anything that would be ruined by about three hours worth of lack of attention?"

Watari jerked backwards when he saw Light Yagami, who he knew was supposed to be in a cell, appear suddenly in the kitchen _with wings!_ Stunned, Watari shook his head. the only thing that might have been ruined was the butter-cream frosting, which he had just managed to spill all over the floor in his shock.

"Great!" Light chirped (again), grabbing onto Watari's shoulder and Flashing them back to the control room. "Sit down!" He pushed Watari down into a sitting position in a chair.

Watari blinked. What had just happened? Why were Matt, Mello and Near here, and why the hell was Near on the ceiling with some random girl? Why was Misa Amane out of her cell and L looking at Light like he was concealing the secrets of the universe on his person? (Apparently all the physical impossibilities in the room had not yet registered with him.)

"Okay!" Aryn clapped her hands, standing fully upside down on the ceiling. She gently flew herself down to the floor. "Now that everyone relevant is here, _finally!_ We, being Light, Matt, Mello, Near and me, can introduce ourselves and hopefully convince people that no, they are not schizo, and that yes, this is real and there _is_ a logical reason why we should be the ones in charge of the Kira case!"

Light glared at Aryn. "Oh, so it's okay for you to use run-on sentences, but it's not okay for me to use run-on sentences? Hypocrite!"

Aryn scoffed right back. "Well, I'm air, therefore I can't kill myself via not breathing. You however are mind, and therefore completely able to suffocate yourself if you don't breathe!"

"Perhaps," Near mused, eyeing the bug-eyed audience, "we should introduce ourselves before we allow ourselves to become anymore distracted than we already are?"

Matt looked sideways at Near. "That's a good idea, but do you really think they'll listen to reason? How the hell is _Light_ the sane one of the group anyway? We're so much more sane than he is!"

Mello glared at Matt. "Well, let's see. You are part wolf, and therefore severely affected by wanderlust. Furthermore, you cuss out random inanimate objects. Near has bloodlust, I am part basilisk and Aryn is...Aryn. Do I really need to say anything more?"

Matt sighed. "You're right. It just makes me twitchy that the best defense this Realm has in the war is five utterly insane teens. Alright, I'ma break those two apart." Matt strode over to the bickering siblings and grabbed an ear on each of them. "Oi! Light and Aryn! We're gonna introduce ourselves now, before we break something in someone's head. Again!"

"FINE!" Light growled, pulling his head away and glaring at Matt. "I'll go first. All our titles, plus what we are?" Nods from everyone. "Should I include our past, Aryn?" Again, a nod. "Alright." Light spread his wings slightly and turned to the dumbfounded audience, which was now comprised of Aizawa, L, Matsuda (All of whom were fully conscious at the same time, and had been for the past five minutes or so, for once.), Mogi (who had stopped working to stare at Light), Misa, Soichiro and Watari.

"I am Light Yagami-Arget-Suino. Agent Mente of Sector L-5. The Reincarnated Fallen Seraphim Balbdas. One of this Realm's five defenders in the Great War. I was born into the Suino clan of the Middle East. The oldest clan in the world. When I was six, a pair of chameleon demons came and killed them all, using my parent's faces to do so. They then took my twin, my betrothed and I captive. For five years, we were held captive. Then my twin and I escaped, shortly after my betrothed died. The Yagamis adopted me, and an American couple by the name of Arget adopted my twin. We managed to keep in contact thanks to a mind connection we shared, thanks to my affinity to mind magic."

Aryn stepped up, also spreading her wings. "I am Aryn Arget-Yagami-Suino. I am Agent Ar of Sector L-5. The Reincarnated Fallen Seraphim Redzsaz. The second of this Realm's defenders. I am Light's twin sister, and the heir to the Arget fortune. My affinity is with air.

Matt stepped forward, ears twitching as his tail flicked back and forth sLightly. "I am Matt Hakkeh. That is my only name. I am Agent Auga of Sector L-5. I am half wolf-demon, half-human. The third of this Realm's defenders. My affinity is water."

Mello stepped to the fore, his yellow-green eyes burning in intensity as he introduced himself. "I am Mello Illanov. Agent Lume of Sector L-5. Half snake demon, half human. The fourth of the Realm's defenders. Heir to a Russian Mafia. Descendant of the king of the snakes, the basilisk. My affinity is fire."

Near's turn as he bared his fangs at the audience. "Near Tieva-Tepesh. Agent Terra of Sector L-5. Half bat demon, half vampire. The last of the Realm's defenders and heir to the Dracul fortune. My affinity is earth."

No one quite knew what to say to the revelation that Sector L-5, the famous anti-terrorist squad that seemed to be working for every government in the world, was a bunch of teenagers. What's more, that they were most definitely not human.

THUMP

Well, Matsuda really did appear to know how to break down a tense moment. Usually by fainting, but you take what you can get.

* * *

Poor Matsuda... Aw, who'm I kidding? It's just fun to mess with them.

NEar kind of acted as me yelling at the characters to get moving, only not really, and no, there is no chance of Light/Misa, if anyone was wondering. Think of it like this, she's been alone in that cell, with only a scrambled voice talking at her occasionally, with no movement, sight, anything. You're going to be a bit kinder than usual to someone who just went through that.

Alright, who all saw that ending? The five are famous, only as humans being an anti-terrorist squad, not for what they really deserve to be famous for. They're still famous though.


	9. Matt's Answers and Near's Burns

Hey all! I hope you like the chapter! lso, yesterday I got declared my friend Kina's (the real one, not Light's familiar/painting one) brain. She managed to fall backwards out of a desk. taking the desk with her. Desks aren't supposed to do that, but she managed to do it anyway. Anyone wanna clarify how, cause I'm a little confused? And then she tried to climb one of the concrete pylons holding the roof up. She has problems.

Disclaimer: Please, if I owned Death Note, it'd be more than just hints of Light/L. And neither Light nor L would die. Hotness like that doesn't deserve to die. Also yesterday at school for me: I found a guy at my school who, no kidding, looks almost exactly like Light. Kina agreed with me and we spent much of the rest of the day twitching.

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**Chapter 9 - Matt's Answers and Near's Burns**

* * *

For another moment or so there was silence and then Aryn decided that they needed to check on the unconscious dude.

"Hey, umm...I don't think it's healthy to be fainting that often. We probably want to do something or else he's gonna end up with brain damage or something." Aryn pointed out. Light shot her a long-suffering glance.

"Aryn, you are absolutely clueless when it comes to human physiology. I don't think that you should be the one to say something like that."

Matt sighed. "You two! Stop bickering! God! Maybe we should answer some of the questions these good people surely have for us?"

Light glared at Matt for interrupting their bickering before turning towards the audience. "Fine. Now, since I know all of you will have questions, let's do this. We'll go by order of complexity of the answers. So, you all are going to ask your questions, and then we're going to answer them all at once. I should point out that there is always a possibility that your question will leave you with more questions than answers, but we'll do our best to answer them. Oh, and one question per person at the moment. I don't know if we'll be able to keep up with any more than that."

Mello shook his head, annoyed. "Light! Seriously, you sound like _Roger_! There's all of seven people here! You don't need to act like you're trying to keep control of a crowd!"

Light scoffed. "So? It's fun to act like you're in control of a crowd. I scoff in the general direction of your naivety! Now, lowly mortals, ask us your questions!"

"Lowly mortals?" Matt asked Aryn quietly in amusement. Aryn shrugged, her expression clearly conveying the sentiment of 'What-can-ya-do?'

"Err...Are you planning on taking over the Kira case?" Mogi decided to get the ball rolling with what was really the only question that he really cared about. Would he have to work on the monster of a case anymore?

His tentative question opened the floodgates.

"Light-kun mentioned something about realms and a war. Could he explain please?" (L)

"Was Light really betrothed to someone?" (Misa)

"What exactly did you mean by 'reincarnated fallen seraphim'?" (Aizawa)

"Demon?" (Matsuda, who had re-awoken and was apparently quite frightened of demons, if the way he was quaking behind Mogi's chair was any indication.)

"...I'm missing something, aren't I? What happened in the past day or so?" (Watari, who had indeed mysteriously disappeared for the past day.)

"Why am I here again?" (Soichiro)

Light held up his hands, sensing that if he let them continue speaking, there would be more questions than they could answer at a time. "Okay, that's enough questions. Let's see, Soichiro, you're here because otherwise you'd be wallowing in undeserved self-pity like an emo teen. Mogi, yes we're going to be taking over the Kira case, yes there is a very good reason. Kira is killing through supernatural means, therefore L is not all that effective against shim. This is our area of expertise."

Aryn took over from there, answering Misa's question as all the boys were utterly hopeless when it came to matters of the heart. She could also hear the undercurrents of Misa's question. "Blondie, I assume you are the Misa that Light's told me about? Yes, Light was betrothed to someone. She was our best friend up until we turned eleven, at which point she was killed after five years of torture, which is what gave us the motivation to escape. We knew we would've been next. Don't worry. Light looks on you the same way he did Matt, Mello and Near when we first met them. Someone with a bad past that he wants to help heal. And look how close we are to them now!" Aryn swung an arm around Near and planted a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Matt stepped up to answer Watari's question. "A shitload of random crap, just like every other time any two or more of us are left alone together. Well, without any supervision by adults we respect. That being all of Sachiko and Soichiro Yagami."

Mello's turn. "Yes, demon. Not the way you humans view demons though. Think...a different race of people. Or try this. Demons are basically a country with different nationalities (read, animal crosses). There are good demons and there are bad demons. There's a government, and there are people who decide to emigrate to other countries. And yes, there is a war going on, and it does involve the demons. And the Angels. And the Seelie and Unseelie courts."

"To answer your question, Aizawa-san, Light and Aryn meant that they were what is known as Fallen Angels in a past life. They died and were reborn as humans, although with the reawakening of their past lives, they became mostly Angel again. Seraphim is a title given to the strongest of war commanders among the Angels." Near answered in an emotionless voice, though a slight affection did creep into it when he mentioned Aryn's name.

"And then L, to answer your question, we're gonna need lots of paper. And patience. And probably a liberal amount of coffee, potato chips, carrots, tomatoes and chocolate. so, before we answer your question, we're gonna Flash up to the apartment that we are claiming as our own for the forseeable future. Kay, thanks, bai!"

Each of the members of L-5 grabbed one of the humans and Flashed to the location Light was broadcasting. And then they promptly began making the place their own.

Aryn walked off in the direction of the bedrooms to dump the luggage. "Oi, Light! I'ma give you the smallest room since you aren't going to be sharing with anyone! Near and I are gonna take the one next to yours and Matt and Mello get the last one."

"You do that!" Light called, before turning to Matt. "Oh, Giver of Money, do you suppose that you could give me 2000 yen or so? Only, I'm empty and if you guys want your snacks, I need money so I can go to the store."

Matt patted down his jacket. "Know I have some yen in here somewhere. Ah!" Matt pulled out a rather large roll of bills. He peeled off several and chucked them at Light. "There you go! Make sure that my coffee's the _good_ kind, kay? No nasty-bitter crap!"

"Do I ever get you the bad kind?" Light asked as he glamoured his wings away before flashing away, presumably to a convenience store or something. Watari twitched, half-expecting L to get upset about his suspect not being monitored.

"Aren't you upset about everything that has happened?" Watari asked L quietly as they watched Mello go tearing through the apartment searching for paper.

"Why would I be upset?" L asked Watari.

"Well, you are rather competitive, and you just got a case taken away from you, by your suspect nonetheless! I would've expected you to be a bit worse off than you are." Watari pointed out.

"As Light-kun pointed out, this is not my area of expertise, therefore it is possible that I would end up with the wrong person in custody, even with all the evidence pointing at that person. I do not know how the supernatural works, therefore I could easily get the case wrong." L returned. He would've said more, but everything in the apartment was suddenly lifted up into the air.

"AAAAHHH!" Apparently Misa had a fear of heights. Or maybe it was just being lifted up into the air by nothing in particular that got to her. Or perhaps both.

"Terribly sorry, but we needed to get to the carpet." Near explained as he began poking and prodding the carpet. With each touch, the carpet changed color slightly, cycling through various colors, both common and extraordinarily out-of-the-world. "Does that look good?"

Matt nodded as he did a handstand in the air. "Yeah. It's awesome! But I forgot, what's the name?"

"I don't believe that it has a name. It's halfway between the color of a cat's pupil and the color of a Shinigami's Note however. Blacker than black yet easy to fall forever in." Near explained as the furniture fell down with a clatter, while the people were gently set down. "Thanks for lifting them, Aryn!"

"Welcome!" Aryn yelled back from the bedrooms, where she was doing...something. L wasn't sure he wanted to know what. Very loud clatters and bangs were being heard, along with the occasional yelp of pain. and some quietly muffled scolding. L thought he had heard a muffled explosion at one point.

"Shoddy workmanship," Near muttered in disgust as he inspected on of the sofas, which had managed to fall apart. "Matt, can you design new chairs for us? I'll lend you some power."

Matt came over and inspected the chairs, shivering slightly at the foreign feel of Near's magic as it rolled over him. "Hmm, twist the elements just a little, change it from wood to metal and cushions. Then change the refraction angle slightly, go from cream colored to Seelie fairy's wing. Mello, what do you think of our new egg chairs?"

Mello paused in his search for paper and looked at Matt's design. And he was awed, once again, at Matt's skill when it came to decorating. "That's awesome! Can you change the other things to match? I'd help, only I'm more likely to set crap on fire than make it look nice."

Matt rolled his goggled eyes at Mello. "Well at the very least, can you imprint a few of those flame patterns of yours on the wall? Preferably in black and dragons-blood."

"But I have to go find the paper!" Mello whined.

Matt sighed in exasperation. "You honestly don't think that Aryn has tons of paper along with all her other random art shit that she packs? She will hurt you if she finds that out."

"Oi! Was someone dissing my art skills in there? The second I stop being piled on by-AH! MELLO GET YOUR ASS IN HERE AND GET YOUR CHUBBCHUBBS OFF OF MINE! MATT! GET SOME COFFEE INTO JYTAR! HE'S GOING ALL SADISTIC LIKE AGAIN!"

Matt and Mello exchanged startled looks, realized exactly what Aryn had been doing back in the bedrooms, and sprinted back there.

"I'm coming! Don't kill my chubbs!" Mello cried.

"Ratyj! If you don't let Jytar take over right now, no bunnies for a month!" Matt yelled.

Watari, L and Misa stared in the direction of the frantic duo, then turned their stares to Soichiro, who appeared to be suffering a nervous breakdown. Aizawa, Matsuda and Mogi had been left behind in the control room apparently, though no one had noticed it until now.

"They're all insane, and they're all going to be killing Tokyo's sanity. Again. I give up. I've tried to be supportive, but I can't do it anymore. They're driving me to insanity. I need to get out of here before the stress gets to me." Soichiro was muttering to himself. Suddenly he stood up. "L, Watari, I believe I'm going to be going home. I've had enough shocks for today, and am afraid that any more will not be conducive to my health. I will be returning on Monday, but for the moment I would like to return to my family."

With that Soichiro strode confidently out of the apartment, completely disregarding the fact that he had no idea where the apartment was relative to the rest of the building, and that he was very likely to end up getting hopelessly lost for about a week or so. Watari looked at L questioningly.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

L shrugged. "I assume that Light-kun or one of his friends will be willing to rescue him at some point in the future, when Yagami-san has exhausted himself." And L went back to watching Near as he went around prodding random spots on the wall.

And was rewarded for his observation a moment later, when Light Flashed back into the room, right on top of Near. Both boys went down in a confused tangle of limbs (four more than usual when there were only two people in the pileup), bags and scalding liquid.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Apparently being around friends did wonders for Near's lung capacity, as L had never heard his heir yell quite that loud. Then again, there was a high chance that it was the steaming coffee that now adorned his body causing his lungs to expand. L wagered that it was the coffee.

Matt, Mello and Aryn, thinking something was majorly wrong to cause Near to yell like that, came barreling into the room, each brandishing a weapon.

Matt held a Middle Eastern scimitar, while Mello swung a katana around as Aryn brandished a pair of deadly looking foot-long daggers.

They paused, looking around for whatever nonhuman had caused near to yell like that. When they saw that it was only Light, they sheepishly trooped back to their rooms to return their weapons to whatever holes they had dug them out of. And then Matt realized what exactly had happened to cause Near to yell in pain.

"LIGHT! THAT WAS MY COFFEE, YOU ASSHOLE!" Matt screamed as he ran back into the room, still carrying his scimitar. He ran at Light and began taking swipes at him with the curved blade.

"AAH! MATT! YOU CAN GET IT BACK!" Matt paused in his rampage, looking at Light quizzically. "Matt, you're water, remember? What is coffee made of? Water! You can control the coffee, filter out all the germs and stuff, and you'll have your coffee back!" Light held up his hands in calming gesture. "And, there's cinnamon creamer in it! So, am I safe from your wrath?"

Matt thought about it and smacked Light over the head with the hilt of his scimitar. Light, dazed, sank to the floor. Matt grinned.

"_Now_ you're safe."

And Matt walked over to Near and began siphoning the coffee off of him and into the empty Starbucks cup that he found nearby. his scimitar floated itself back to the back rooms, from which Aryn and Mello were walking out of, their arms laden with paper and pens.

"Alright! Now we have the supplies to answer your question, L!" Aryn yelled cheerfully as she dumped her armload of paper on the table, casually kicking Light as she walked past him. "Wake up! Matt didn't hit you that hard! We'sa gots to gets explaining!"

Mello glared at her as he also dumped his armload on the table before he walked over to the bags that were dumped on the floor by Matt, which he rifled through to find one of his chocolate bars. "Stop talking like Jar-Jar Binks, Aryn. It's extraordinarily creepy. Hey, sweet! Light, you're the God of All Creation!" Mello held aloft his trophy, a bar of marbled milk and white chocolate with a blackberry-raspberry filling. L was privately amused at how much the half-snake boy resembled a medieval hero who had just pulled a sword from a stone.

Matt thunked the teen on the head with a fist, coffee now safely in his cup, and _not_ on Near. "Light is _not_ the god of all creation, no matter how often he gets you the most exotic chocolate. Stop acting like he is."

L was beginning to get a headache. His heirs were apparently attempting to give his friend a Messiah complex. L was irrationally jealous that Light hadn't gotten L any type of sweet, even though Light had no real reason to get him anything. And he _still_ hadn't gotten an answer to his question about the 'realm' thing.

"Is anyone going to answer my question?" L asked. He was not accustomed to being forced to wait for answers, when the person who could answer his question was right in front of him.

Aryn looked over at L as she began to rifle through the bags. "Yeah, yeah. Just a moment please, we have to distribute the snacks and then we'll answer your question. Hey, Light-lump! Here's some chips! Sadistic sour cream and onion? What the crap?"

Light grinned unrepentantly as he snatched the bag of chips from Aryn, sat himself down in one of the altered egg chairs, and stuck a pair of chips in his mouth, making it look like he had a ducks bill before he crunched them up. L thought it looked rather cute, though he would have denied it had anyone asked him.

"It was the only non-chili or shrimp flavor they had. Seriously, I don't know what the hell is wrong with just plain, or nacho cheese. Apparently there is something wrong though."

"...Okaay then. Near! Your raw tomatoes!" Aryn tossed the tomatoes in the direction of Near, who had also sat himself in a chair, and was now zapping a burn on his forearm. Near looked up and reached out with inhuman speed to grab the bunch of tomatoes before they could fall to the floor.

"Thank you, Aryn!" he called, before he sank his fangs into a tomato and began to suck.

Misa shuddered at the slurping sound that movement produced. L noted absently that it would appear that the prodigy was replacing human blood with tomato juice and seeds. If vampires really did drink human blood, that was.

"Oookaaay...Light, I'm lost here. Why is there beef jerky and a box of chocolate covered strawberries in here?"Aryn asked, holding the two mentioned snacks and looking at them in confusion.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry. The strawberries are L's, and the jerky is Misa's, kay?"

"Whatever," Aryn shrugged before tossing the snacks to their respective owners.

"Hey, carrots! Awesome!" Aryn yelled before throwing herself at the same chair as Near and curling up in his lap, huddling the bag of carrots to her chest like they were her salvation.

"...is she alright?" Watari asked.

Light shrugged. "Aryn's always like that with carrots. It's even worse when we give Matt meat though. Now-" Light clapped his hands together grandly. "-let's get to explaining the war and the Realms to you guys." Light set his hands on the table, and slipped forward when his hands slipped on the foot-thick coating of paper. He stared down at the table in confusion. "Why is there so much paper on the table? Never mind. On to the answer to your question, L."

Light laced his fingers together and stared into L's eyes. "There are five Realms that we are aware of. A Realm is...basically a whole world, superimposed on top of the others. Think of it as being...different dimensions. You can be aware that there more dimensions than the ones you inhabit, but you can't really _get_ there. Not unless you find one of the Rips."

"Humans are actually aware of three of the other Realms," Aryn interjected. Light scowled at her before turning his attention back to L.

"_As I was saying_, there are five Realms that we know of. One of them was just discovered about seven months ago, and it hasn't really interacted with the other Realms very much, so we will just ignore that Realm."

L heard Aryn mutter something under her breath. L wasn't entirely sure, but it sounded like she had said "Yeah, if you count Kira as not very much." L wondered how all five of these teens had been gifted with the gifts of sarcasm and understatement in such concentration. (A higher concentration than him, which was something L had previously thought impossible.)

"There is a war going on between the other three Realms, and our Realm, Earth, is the stage for their battles. We," Light gestured to L-5. "are the ones who try to keep their battles from hurting the 'lower beings' as the combatants consider them. In other words, humans."

Misa shuddered. L agreed with the girl's reaction to the thought of quite possibly getting killed in a battle of a war you had no idea was being fought.

"The other three realms are actually known to humans, even if their portrayals aren't quite...accurate. There is the Realm that humans refer to as Heaven. The Angels originate from there. Yes, Aryn and I were born into that Realm in our past lives. Honestly, it's a lot like Earth, only about five degrees colder. You'd be amazed at how much of a difference a slight change in temperatures will make."

"How did Light-kun become a fallen angel?" L asked. Watari appeared to be suffering a nervous breakdown similar to the one experienced by Soichiro about twenty minutes earlier.

"No more questions if you want to ever get to the end of this explanation. Oh, and Near? If I send you the location of the infirmary, can you Flash the old man there?" Light turned his eyes away from L's to ask Near this, but they almost immediately returned to L's.

"Of course," Near said, somehow standing up without displacing Aryn, who appeared to be shaving a carrot with her teeth, purring all the while. "Come on then, Mr. Wammy. We'll be getting you to a nice calm place where you can rest and forget all about the last day. Okay?" And Near and Watari flashed away, presumably to the infirmary.

"Anyway," Light continued, "the second Realm is known to humans as Hell. It is populated by demons. There are several different races of demons, corresponding to different animals on Earth. It, like Heaven, is very similar to how the Earth would be should the temperature change a small amount. In this case, however, the temperature has raised about six degrees overall.

"The third Realm involved in the war is the one with the most difference to our Realm. It has no definite name among humans, but some call it the Realm of Faerie. The legends of the Seelie and the Unseelie court, the bean-sidhes and the kelpies...all originate from the third Realm.

"For as long as anyone can remember, the three Realms have been involved in a war. Many inhabitants of the Realms have grown fed up of the War, and run. They run to this Realm, and settle here. Each race has different names for those who run to Earth and desert the War, for every citizen is viewed as a member of the militia.

"For those of Heaven, it is Fallen. That is what Aryn and I were classified as. We grew sick of the War and ran to Earth. Before that however, we were two of the most decorated commanders in the War. On any side. We were caught shortly after we Fell, and executed. We didn't expect them to send Hounds after us, and so were caught by surprise.

"The demons call it Tainted. Mello's mother was Tainted. She was the princess of the Hebi tribe, but she fell in love, and ran to Earth. Matt's father was a victim of the war, as was his mother. His father fell afoul of an Angel virus, one that made him become less than a beast. His mother was just in the wrong time at the wrong place. Near's family...well, none of us quite have any idea what the hell is going on with Near's family, not even Near himself.

"And the Seelie and Unseelie courts call it Iron-Blinded. My betrothed was half-fairy. Her name was Lujayn, 'of silver', to spite her family. Had her mother stayed in Faerie, not become Iron-Blinded, she would have been the princess. Instead, she died in a cell, after five years of torture. Torture at the hands of a pair of demons, who wore my parents faces to do it. Torture because of me. Because those demons were under orders to break _my_ spirit."

Light stared at his hands, which were clutching the remains of a chip that had crumbled into powder under his grip. Aryn calmed down from her carrot-high to wrap an arm around his shoulders and give him a hug, reminding him that she would stick by him forever.

Light looked back up, still thinking about Lujayn, and saw L. Perhaps it was the fact that he had just relived the last moments of Luayn's life, or perhaps he just hadn't ever really examined the detective's face, Light wasn't ever sure. But Light saw something so obvious that he had to ask himself how he had ever missed it.

L looked almost exactly like a male version of the girl he was supposed to have married. L, the best detective in the world, who currently thought he was a mass murderer, looked like the _half-fairy_ girl he was supposed to have married.

One thought ran through his stunned mind as he stared at L. One thought which he promptly vocalized, having no real reason to hide it from anyone in the room.

"Oh shit."

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Can you see the plot twists yet? This one is about... oh, so far? Four out of at least ten. I don't have the patience to count all of what I have so far. That'd be too long. Side note: I have exactly 57,052 words of the actual story, not counting ANs or disclaimers, written out.

Now, because apparently, from what I can tell, review whores get more reviews: Anyone wanna brighten my day with feedback?


	10. Aryn's Explanation and Near's Acceptance

I am so glad that my dad collects computers right now! Mine died last night, and if it weren't for there being tons of others in the house, you people wouldn't be getting your chapter for a while. THank God that I have a backup of all my stories!

By the way, just to let you people know, anything that sounds even vaguely like scientific, is complete bullshit running on an eighth and a month grade scientific education. So, yeah, any scientists out there, feel free to laugh your asses off.

Disclaimer: Well, my own computer is four years old, and I'm pinching pennies in order to be able to pay for a significant share of a new one. Do you really think I could possibly own Death Note? Or anything else that you recognize?

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**Chapter 10 - Aryn's Explanation and Near's Acceptance

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**  
"Light?" Aryn asked. "What's wrong?"

Light stood up shakily and walked around the table to take a closer look at L's face. L was rather uncomfortable with the way that Light was staring at his face from only about two inches away, rather understandably.

"Aryn...Does he...remind you of someone?" Light asked, grabbing L's chin and tilting his head from side-to-side. L leaned back, trying to get his head away from the crazy angel, but Light held onto his chin.

Aryn tilted her head to the side. "No...not really..."

Light sighed. "Stand up." Aryn and L, not sure who he was talking to, both stood up. "Watch carefully."

And Light began to make changes to L's appearance.

First, Light Lightened the bags under L's eyes. Just a little.

Then L's eyelashes were thickened slightly.

His hair grew down to about his shoulder blades.

He regressed to a thirteen-year-old's body.

He became a girl.

His shirt changed into a light blue dress.

And L gained a scar going from the edge of his right cheekbone to just above the corner of his mouth.

Aryn gasped. Light nodded in satisfaction, and their communication lapsed into the half-conversation that was their most common form of communication during those five years.

(Note: The part of the conversation in italics is not actually being spoken. It is the half of their conversation that they don't actually communicate, just know. This was done for the convenience of the readers.)

"He looks just like..."_ Lujayn_

"I know. Do you think..." _L might be related to her?_

"That'd be insane by our standards!"

"If he is..." _then we have to introduce him to the other side._

"No! It's..." _too dangerous!_

"Can't we..." _at least introduce him to our world?  
_  
"Light. Have you thought..." _about how you'd feel if he turns out to be human?_

"Jaryn did say..." _her brother was Iron-Blinded before her.  
_  
"So you think he's..."_ half-fairy, and Crown Prince at that?  
_  
"I'm _hoping_, I don't..."_ think he is. I just... I'm tired of being alone.  
_  
"I don't want to see..." _you get your heart broken again._

"A wise man once said..." '_Tis better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all.'_

"That isn't the same! This isn't just about..." _you. There's a million beings out there who could be hurt if you judge wrong here._

"I know. But sometimes..." _you have to take a chance._

"And we do! Every day! This just..."_ isn't a chance I'm willing to take._

"Why not?"

"I don't..."_ want to lose you.  
_  
"How does that..." _relate?  
_  
"Don't think you wouldn't end up..." _slipping again if it turns out he isn't. I won't lose you again!  
_  
"No one can..." _act like L does without not being human!  
_  
Aryn arched an eyebrow. "Oh, and you've taken the..." _time to notice how he acts?_

Mello got annoyed with the half-conversation and decided to do something about it. "Oi! You two! Care to clue us lowly mortals in on what your high and might selves are talking about?"

Light stared at Mello in confusion for a moment, wondering why Mello hadn't recognized what Light had done, before realizing something. "Gah! I forgot. You guys haven't ever seen Lujayn. Here." And Light sent them his memory of Lujayn's last smile, right before she cut her wrists with an iron blade she had managed to steal.

Mello compared the memory with what he was seeing before him, and fell out of his chair in shock. Matt choked on his coffee and sent a gulp flying across the room. Near, who had returned from sedating Watari, gasped. (Though that might have just been because he came back in the room to see L wearing a dress.)

"Oh...Odin...That...Freaky..." Matt appeared to be at a loss for words.

Misa tilted her head to the side. "What's going on?"

"I find myself quite curious as to the reason I am in a female teenaged body," L added.

"Ohh...errm...Well...Aryn? My throat is dry from explaining the Realms. Can you explain this?" Light asked, shooting Aryn a pleading look. He knew it was easy to tell that he was lying, but Light didn't care. He wouldn't be able to tell the story. Not to L.

Aryn sighed. She may have been one of the creators of the Kicked Puppy Look™, but Light was even better at it than her. Plus, she knew that Light's throat wasn't really that sore. The memories were very painful for him. Her too, for that matter. But it would merely be painful for Aryn. "Fine. You go out and get us some sodas while I explain, 'kay?"

Light smiled, recognizing what she was doing, before turning expectantly to Matt. "Money please?"

Matt handed over some money and Light flashed out of the room.

Aryn leaned forward, pinning the other occupants of the room with a piercing violet stare. "There's something you have to understand about Light and me. We may have lived through thousands of years, but memories of Lujayn are the absolute worst we have. Lujayn wasn't just Light's betrothed, she was our best friend. The only person who didn't treat us weird when we grew wings on our fifth birthday. She accepted us."

Aryn's eyes found and froze each other person's soul. "But then those absolute bastards attacked our clans. They took us captive and tortured us for five fucking years. It nearly broke me. It _did_ break Lujayn, and Light and I had to watch as our best friend, the only person we had, killed herself, right in front of us. Do you have any idea how traumatic it is, to sit there and forced to watch, just _watch_ as one of two people you consider family bleeds to death on the floor?"

Aryn leaned forward, lacing her ands under her chin and staring off to nowhere in particular. "L happens to look almost exactly like Lujayn. The reason, L, that you are currently wearing a female body, is that Light wanted to make sure that he wasn't going crazy. He wanted to make sure that he wasn't just imagining the resemblance between the girl who accepted us, and the man who suspects him of being the sort of person that Light absolutely detests. A murderer."

Matt looked like he was about to ask a question. Aryn knew what his question would be, and preempted him speaking. "The reason you didn't have any idea about this, is because Light and I had buried those memories deep within our minds. We are able to act so immature, because we never had a chance to act like children when we really were. This Kira case...it brought everything back." Aryn chuckled, a short, sharp, bitter sound full of pain and speaking of millennia of betrayal, and the others knew they weren't seeing Aryn Arget-Yagami-Suino. They were seeing the Fallen Angel Redsasz, former Seraphim. "Really, given our pasts, it's amazing that we are as well-adjusted as we are."

Near was looking at Aryn with a heart-rending betrayal on his face. "Honestly though, just because you didn't see our memories of our own personal hell, doesn't mean you don't know us. You three know the two of us better than anyone but ourselves have ever known us. Congratulations, in the space of less than four years, you five have managed to worm your way deeper into our hearts than any other being has ever been able to in all of creation, deeper than people we knew for thousands of years. Yes, I'm including L and Misa in that too. Light cares for you two more than you know."

Aryn stared at Near for several moments, eyes begging him to understand. After a long silence, very uncomfortable for the other four people in the room, Near sighed, nodded and smiled at Aryn, who walked over to him and sat herself down on his lap. Both sets of wings enfolded the couple, hiding them from view. However, moans were clearly audible, and shudders occasionally ran through the feathered wings.

Misa sighed in longing as she stared at the wing-cocoon. She wished Light would do that to her. But she knew that, as much as she might wish it, she wasn't the one for Light. She might not be a genius, but Misa was far from blind.

L sighed and began to stare at the ceiling. He _really_ wanted to get back to his body. This one felt..weird. And disturbing. He didn't like it at _all_.

Mello and Matt looked at each other speculatively, then realized what they were doing. Both blushed fiercely and jumped away from the other.

"Hang on a...moment," Aryn muttered from behind the wing-curtain. "Mm...Near...wait...I need to...ngh...talk to Matt."

Matt flushed even deeper, matching his magic-enhanced hair for reddishness, as three sets of eyes turned towards him.

Aryn stuck her head out of the wing curtain. "Matt, can you Scan L? See if he really isn't human, and what he is if he's not?"

Matt nodded quickly. "Yeah sure."

"Great thanks!" Aryn called, already back inside the wing-curtain.

L turned slowly to Matt, finding it strange that he was absolutely terrified of this... being... who was a decade younger than him. "What did Aryn-san mean by 'scan'?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Matt grinned, reaching up and pulling the orange goggles that were still on his face up. L gulped, seeing slitted pupils and glowing amber irises slowly revolving.

"I'm going to look into your eyes, and I'm going to Search."

And L was falling, into a sea of amber with random memories flashing in front of him, behind him, all around him. All painful, all things he had put behind a wall, hidden from himself because they just hurt too much.

"Light's the one with an elemental connection to the soul..."

_L's fourth birthday. His father is dead, and his mother has brought home another man with bitter breath and bloodshot eyes. The man smashes a beer bottle over his mother's head and kills her before staggering drunkenly out into the night. And L is alone._

L is thankful that the only extra room in the small apartment his mother had was a small cupboard, because the man never even thinks that there might be another person in that one-roomed apartment.

"...but it is a hereditary talent of the wolf demons..."

_L is living on the street. He sees the same man that had killed his mother, and stops, frightened. The man is wearing a cleanly pressed suit, and L wonders, _Where is the blood? Where is my mother's blood, marking that man as a murderer?_, because, even at four, L knows about murder and justice and the law. This is the first time that L has ever encountered the law failing, and L swears that he will never let it fail when he has a chance to change it.  
_  
"...the ability..."

_  
The first case L ever solves. It is a serial rapist, who targeted young boys living on the street. The case hits a little too close to home, and L has trouble sleeping. He never really gets back to a normal sleeping schedule._

"...to seek someone's past..."

_Staring, wide-eyed, at Beyond Birthday, who is coming closer with a jar of bloody jam, A's body behind him._

"...and to recover memories that some one has..."

_L's twelfth birthday. At midnight, he wakes up, racked with pain. His back feels like it is splitting, and his vision flickers between the safe, comfortable colors of the world, and something incandescent, shimmering and bright. His ears are filled with ringing and his mouth tastes of sawdust. For what seems like eternity, L lies there, trying not to scream. _  
_  
Finally, the pain stops. L has time to glimpse a pair of shimmery black wings, growing from his back, before he passes out._

When L wakes up, he has no wings, and passes it off as a dream of some sort. However, from that day forth, L craves sweets, needs them, but no matter how many he eats, it doesn't taste quite right.  
  
And L is being pulled back out of the amber sea, wide-eyed and shaking. He hadn't remembered that last memory.

"...forgotten."

Matt smiled with satisfaction at the fact that he had found what he was looking for.

"Congratulations, L. You're half fairy. One of the Unseelie court, or you would be had your father not been Iron-Blinded."

And then Matt collapsed backwards, crumpled in on himself, curled up in the chair. It took a lot of energy to Scan someone, more so for a half demon like Matt, and even more when the person had built up great mental walls between them and the rest of the world. Like L.

Mello caught Matt and sighed. "I'm going to take him back to the bedrooms. He's going to be out of it for a while." Mello stood up and walked out of the room. L caught the last line Mello muttered to himself. "He always is."

Misa was sitting in her chair, clutching a piece of beef jerky that she had somehow acquired like it was a talisman. She appeared to have gone into some deep part of her mind to escape from the insanity out in the real world. (Yes, L had decided he might as well accept this as the real world, and enjoy the freedom while it lasted.) Aryn and Near were still hidden behind the wing-curtain, and so L was alone.

"Mpgh...Near..."

Mentally at least. Audibly...L rather wished he could turn off his hearing.

It was to this scene that Light reappeared, shaking off the glamour he had hastily put on his wings.

Light paused, taking in the scene. He shot a disgusted glance at the wing/curtain. "Honestly, they could have a little decency." Light turned his gaze to L and Misa, who both obviously wanted to be somewhere else. "Do you guys want to go back to one of the bedrooms? Those two aren't going to be stopping anytime soon."

Misa nodded happily. "Misa-Misa would love to see Light's bedroom!"

L rather agreed. "I would also like to avoid being forced to listen to..."

"Ngh...mmm...N...Near!"

"...that."

Light nodded, grabbing L and Misa and leading back down the hallway towards the bedrooms. "I know what you mean. Those two...are like bunnies once they get going."

"I see...Light-kun, would you mind returning me to my normal body?" L asked as he tripped over the hem of the dress, rather unbalanced by having a different center of gravity than he was used to.

Light stopped and stared at L for a moment, then remembered that he had forgotten to take the physical glamour off of him. "Sorry, L!" And Light swept a hand up and down in front of L's face, like he was clearing away a cobweb, and the glamour dissipated. Light felt a surge of relief to be looking at the face of L, the best detective in the world, rather than Lujayn, the girl whose death he had caused.

L sighed in relief, happy to be back in his own body. "Thank you, Light-kun."

Light laughed. "Terribly sorry about that! I completely forgot I'd put a glamour on you."

L cocked his head to the side. "Is Light-kun saying that I look like a teenaged girl?"

Light shook his head, the joy dying from his eyes. "No, it's just...easy to pretend. I slip sideways sometimes, and nothing looks quite the same. Wild and wonderful and wicked sharp. It's easy to pretend, and even easier to forget." Light trailed off, a distant look in his eyes, and it was easy to see that all that he had lived through in his life had left him not quite whole, not quite there, not quite sane.

Misa shivered and clutched Light's arm desperately. Not for support, though she needed that too, but because she was afraid of what would happen if Light didn't have someone to ground him. Misa might not be a genius, but she could see, all too clearly, that if Light didn't have someone to ground him, he would slip away, and then, then it would be only too easy to believe that this being, this creature, this veteran of an ancient war that no one can comprehend, could be Kira. And as much as Misa wished that it could be her to anchor him, she knew that he wasn't hers. But now, for at least a little while, she could help the man she loved.

Light snapped back to the present, that other world, the boundary between Realms fading from his view. "Sorry. Happens occasionally. Don't worry."

"What happened, Light-kun?" L asked, slightly concerned about the younger male.

Light smiled, quickly changing the subject. "We're here! We should be safe from the idiots." Light opened the door, and was promptly knocked over by many furry bodies.

"LIGHT!!!!"

Light just lay there, looking confused for a few moments, before realizing what was going on. He smiled and nuzzled his nose into the ruff of fur that was being pressed against his face.

L felt rather irrationally jealous of the foxish animal that was sitting on Light's chest.

"Hi guys. I thought you were in Aryn's condo, what happened?"

"Aryn-Creator brought us to Japan so we could watch over Light since 'the idiot obviously can't live without having someone watching over him and Kina's just as bad!'"

Light chuckled at the antics of the fox pack of Everlost's antics. "That's nice, but do you suppose you could get off of me? In case you forgot, some people like to breathe, me included. 'Sides, I have guests."

And the fox pack of Everlost flowed off of him and as one turned to look at L and Misa, who were staring wide-eyed at the ten foxes that had just glomped Light. And squealed.

"Friends of Light! Friends of Light!" And Misa and L were now the ones on the floor. One fox sniffed at first L, then Misa, and looked at Light confused.

"Light's Person not human?"

Light looked at the fox blankly, trying to figure out why Rei had said 'Light's Person'. Maybe she had meant L?

Rei took the fact that Light wasn't reacting to that news as evidence that Light already knew, and returned to glomping L and Misa.

L struggled to get out from under the furry mass. He wasn't very used to physical contact, and was rapidly panicking under the weight of ten foxes.

Misa was still physically weak after her month-long imprisonment, and thought she could feel bruises forming on her skin.

Light saw the flailing of the panicking L and the utter stillness of Misa, and decided the foxes had had their fun.

"All right you ten, shoo! Get out of here!" Light said as he bodily pushed the ten foxes down the hallway before turning and looking at L and Misa in concern. "Are you two okay?"

Misa smiled. "Misa-Misa is fine. I just need to rest a little."

L sighed in relief at being out from under those writhing bodies, and smiled at his rescuer. "I am fine, Light-kun."

Light smiled back. "That's good. Now, I believe that the room is free of pests. So come on in." Light bowed and gestured grandly with his hand, indicating the doorway.

Misa giggled and took Light's proffered hand, stepping regally into the room as Light stated, "Ladies first."

L followed rather awkwardly, smiling slightly when he heard the rest of Light's sentence: "-and beauty before brains." Light barely breathed the last four words, so L was slightly surprised that he could hear them, but assumed that part of being half-fairy was exceptional hearing. L had always had very good hearing, but in the last twenty minutes or so it seemed to have doubled in sensitivity.

Light set Misa down on the bed before flopping down himself. A cloud of feathers and...glitter...rose up around him. Light began coughing.

"Damn Aryn to hell! Why does she always do this to me?"

"What does Light-kun mean?" L asked, hoping to understand a little bit more about the only person who had ever managed to capture his attention and confound him. The enigma that was known as Light Yagami-Arget-Suino.

Light sighed, waved a hand in the air, banishing the glitter to the living room (screams were heard, most likely the foxes) and explained. "Aryn is of the opinion that I am 'flaming'. Aryn seems to think that I'm in the closet and need to come out. So, she attacks me with glitter at every chance. It's quite annoying."

"I see." L nodded.

Misa sighed, hearing the undercurrents of their discussion, but apparently the only one who did. Those two! It was so obvious that each of them had a crush on the other! Why was Misa the only one who could see it?

Oh well. It looked like Misa would have to play match-maker. Great. Well, Misa had never been one for subtlety, so it looked like both Light and L would be getting hit over the head with an anvil of a hint, courtesy of Misa Amane. But...an attempt at subtlety couldn't hurt. Surely two genii couldn't be so blind as to be able to misunderstand Misa style subtlety, could they?

* * *

Yes, Misa is going to play match-maker. Also, I don't view her as being an idiot. She couldn't be. Her parents were murdered, and she's still a minor in Japan when we first meet her. So, her living on her own with a career would be like a sixteen year old in the States. Can't do it if you're an idiot.

Oh, and next chapter, L and Light will get together! Sort of. Aryn interrupts them before anything more than two kisses can happen.


	11. Light's Feelings and L's Confession

So... here's chapter 11, and I would just like to say something: I cannot write fluff without drizzling it liberally with cheese. Adn this chapter is fluffy. Be warned.

Disclaimer: Well, what the hell do you think? I don't own Death Note, and it's probably a damn good thing I don't.  


* * *

**Chapter 11 - Light's Feelings and L's Confession**

* * *

L was bored. This was a normal occurrence in the past, however, since the Kira case started, L had been too busy to be bored. And he had gotten used to that life. Now, there was nothing to do, and L was not happy being bored.

Light was bored. Before seven months ago, Light would have solved this by going out and painting the town blue. Quite literally. Seven months ago, he had gained a constant stalker, and become quite unable to do anything fun. Not even control his own body. And then, in the cell, Light had amused himself by teasing L. Now, however, Light did not particularly want to tease L, nor could he go out and paint the town blue. So, Light found himself in quite a predicament.

Misa was getting frustrated. Both of the boys were sneaking glances at each other, looking away, and doing _absolutely nothing_! For Kami's sake, Light had just admitted that his twin sister thought he was flaming! That should have gotten some sort of reaction out of L!

Then again, Light was 'dating' her. Misa knew that he didn't _really_ feel that way about her, and could deal with that if only Light ended up happy. So, Misa decided, since her dating Light was getting in the way of Light's happiness, she would just have to stop dating Light!

"Light," Misa said suddenly, startling both L and Light out of their daze, "I don't think we should date anymore."

Light fell off the bed in shock. (He actually did that fairly often when no one was watching.) "What?"

"I don't think that you and I should date anymore, Light."

"Why do you think that, Misa-san?" L asked, not ashamed in the slightest that he was butting in on what should have been a private conversation. He was slightly confused as to why he was much happier than he had been at the beginning of the day, despite all the negative things that had happened.

Misa shot L an annoyed glance before rolling her eyes at him. "Because Misa isn't blind."

"Why do you say that, Misa?" Light asked, clambering back up onto the bed.

Misa rolled her eyes, and asked of no one, "Why is it that genii can't see what's right in front of their nose? They're absolute idiots in some ways!"

"Hey!" Light cried, "I resent that!"

"The _reason_," Misa stressed, "that I don't think we should date anymore, is that I can tell that there is someone else for you. And yet, you have absolutely no clue. I kind of pity you. You don't really know love, do you?"

"I know love!" Light insisted. "I love Aryn and Matt and Mello and Near and Soichiro and Sachiko and Sayu and Kina and-"

"You don't know love that burns you up, consumes you and hurts so much, even though you've lived for so long." Misa cut Light off, turning her eyes from Light to L. "You don't know how to recognize the kind of love that sears your heart and makes you stronger in your vulnerability. _You can't see what is right in front of you."_

_There_, Misa thought, ignoring the part of her that was dying slowly at what she was doing. Misa firmly squashed that part of her under a heel. Light's happiness was important to her, and Misa could tell that he wasn't going to be happy with her. _If that doesn't get them to realize it, nothing short of smashing their lips together will._

Unfortunately, it looked like neither Light nor L had realized what exactly she meant. They were looking at each other, and then at her in confusion. Misa sighed. Idiots!

"Misa...are you okay?" Light asked, concerned about the model.

"No, Misa is not okay." Misa snapped. "Misa is currently annoyed with idiot genii."

"Why is Misa-san using oxymorons so often?" L asked, trying to figure out what Misa was saying.

"Light-kun, L, Misa has something to say to you. Light, you like L. L, you like Light. Romantically. Now, Misa is going to go somewhere else and let you two talk."

Misa stood up and walked out of the room, leaving behind the two confused genii.

Light and L just sat there for a moment, staring after Misa before they looked at each other.

"Was Misa-san correct, Light-kun?" L asked, cocking his head to the side. "Do you like me romantically?"

Light shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure. I do care about you, but really, I don't know how romantic love feels. I've never actually liked anyone. I thought I did once... and then my partner ended up on the opposite side of a battlefield and since I was reincarnated I've just...not let anyone in. So, I'm not sure how exactly I care about you. But I do."

"I see..." L said, trying to figure out how to put his own feelings into words. For once, his genius mind was failing. Something that happened rather frequently around one Light Yagami-Arget-Suino. "I suppose...I really have no idea how to phrase my own feelings."

The words tasted bitter on his tongue, like tea leaves that had steeped for too long. The great detective L, admitting a weakness? It should not be! But something inside L was telling him that he needed to be completely honest with Light.

Light felt something in him break with those words. L was just not sure how to break the news to him without hurting him, wasn't he? But...why would L care about hurting him?

L sighed, looking down at his hands, clasped around his knees. "I...when I said that Light-kun was my first friend, I meant it. You are the only person, other than Watari, who I care about. I assumed that the what I felt for Light-kun was friendship, nothing more. But... Misa-san does know quite a bit about how the heart works. And, having little experience with matters of the heart, I will trust her judgement. I... suppose I do like Light-kun as more than a friend."

Light froze for an instant. L...liked him? Him, battered, war-torn, broken, murderer Light? Why?

Then Light's brain restarted and he saw L looking at him, forlorn and eerily reminiscent of a kicked puppy. Light gulped and gathered his courage.

L's eyes widened as Light leaned forward and kissed him gently. Barely brushing their lips together really. All of the million thoughts that had been racing through his head a moment ago ceased as he stared into Light's eyes.

Light drew back very quickly, fearful of what L's reaction would be. He was fairly sure that the detective hadn't kissed someone before. How would he react to Light taking his first kiss?

He needn't have worried. L growled slightly when he realized that Light was pulling away, and leaned forward to follow him.

Light was shocked when, instead of slapping him, as Light had feared L might, L drew him into another kiss. This kiss was more substantial, but still, just long enough for Light to realize what had happened.

Light stared at L, trying to decide if he really wanted what the detective seemed to be offering. He decided that he should at least try. After all, L woke feelings inside him that he had never felt before, not in all of his years of existence. Not even with her.

"L, I-" Light began, only to get interrupted.

"Oi, you two!" Aryn stuck her head in the room. "Matt's recovered from looking at L's past, and Mello's gettin' antsy! He wants to remind you, Light, that you promised to take us to that 'high-class' English-style restaurant. So, we're going out for dinner. Matt already got us reservations with his amazing skills at hacking. We're also taking Misa and L with us. Oh," Aryn saw the position that the two males were in on the bed. Light leaning backwards, and L leaning over him. Light's wings curled slightly around the two of them. "-am I interrupting something? Sorry! Just...get L some nice clothes, Light. Kay? We're leaving in about an hour."

And Aryn ducked back out of the doorway, leaving the two genii alone.

"Well," Light quipped after a moment, "that certainly broke the mood, didn't it?"

"Yes," L agreed, "it did."

"Well," Light said, squirming out from under L and walking over to the closet. "if I know Aryn, she completely cleared out her condo in New York and brought it all over here, if she told the Foxes that I couldn't be trusted on my own, so there should be a decent amount of clothes in here. Not any suits!" Light added upon seeing L's slightly panicked expression. "I only wear suits in Japan. Mainly cause in Japan, suits don't look out of place on a teen. In New York, they do. So, a lot more casual clothing over there."

"I see." L said, even though that wasn't what had him panicking. He was worried that the untimely interruption of Aryn would lead to the two of them ignoring their mutual feelings for each other.

"Don't worry." Light came back and leaned down over L, breath tickling L's ear. "I won't forget."

L stared with wide eyes as Light stood up again and began rummaging through the closet. And then jumped in shock as three colored balls of light began swirling around him, nudging against his body and chattering to each other in high-pitched voices.

"Don't worry." Light said, voice slightly muffled by the mounds of clothes that were rapidly being revealed. Absently, L wondered how exactly the closet fit all of those clothes, because the closet was far too small to naturally hold that many clothes. "Those are just Tamas. They're basically a physical representation of my magic. They're measuring you to find out your size, so I know how much we need to adjust the clothes you're going to borrow."

L caught one of the balls and brought it up to his eyes. It wriggled in his hands and shot out at his face, making an annoyed purr. L jerked back in shock as the Tama began to berate him in purrs and growls. At least, that was what he hoped it was doing.

Light's head popped up from inside of the closet. "Sorry, forgot to tell you. Don't touch the Tamas. They're kind of touchy."

"I can tell, Light-kun." L began attempting to shield his head as the Tama he had caught began whirring around it frantically.

"Don't worry. They're absolutely harmless." Light assured L.

Aryn popped her head back into the room. "Oi, thought you-" Whatever Aryn was saying was quickly forgotten as she stared at L, who being swarmed by Light's Tamas, and the clothes that were randomly going flying from the closet. "Oooooo....kay then."

Light stood up, holding a pair of black pants and a marbled green and blue dress shirt. "L, I found something! Aryn? Why are you here?"

Aryn appeared to be wishing she was anywhere else. "Err...I came by because I completely forgot to tell you that we're going to be swinging by your place and picking up Sayu. Otherwise Misa would be the only human, and that's just not fair to her. But...apparently it's bad timing. I'll just...be going now."

And Aryn disappeared. Light stared after her in mild confusion. "Absolutely insane. Insaner than me, at least. Misa...the only human? But..." Light turned to L. "...Oh, yeah. Aryn mentioned Matt scanning you. I'm guessing you aren't quite human, then?"

L nodded, swatting at one of the Tamas as it ran into his ear. "Matt brought forth a memory I hadn't even realized I had. Apparently, when I turned twelve, I grew a pair of black wings that were gone in the morning."

Light stared at him for a moment. "That...that means you're..."

"Half-fairy?" L finished. "So Matt said. He also mentioned something about an 'Unseelie Court'. Can Light-kun explain?"

"Yeah..." Light said, getting distracted. "I promise I'll explain later, okay? I'm going to find something for myself to wear. You get these on while I look." Light tossed the pants and shirt he was still holding at L, and then dove back into the closet. L stared after him for a moment, before he got nudged by one of the Tamas and jerked out of his daze.

"Light-kun...Where can I change?" L asked, looking around for a bathroom or something.

Light popped out of the closet again. "Sorry. Erm..." Light waved his hand, and a black screen formed in the middle of the room. "There. That screen is completely opaque. Just go around to the other side and try the clothes on. The Tamas will tailor them to fit you a bit better. And feel free to just call me Light. I grew up with an English mentality to names, and dislike honorifics." And Light dove back into the closet.  


* * *

Half an hour later, the two males were almost finished getting ready for dinner. L was wearing the outfit that Light had picked out for him, which had been adjusted to fit his slimmer frame. Light had eventually found a crimson shirt and a pair of red-on-black pants, which he had promptly put on, happy to be out of the clothes he had spent the last month in.

Light was brushing L's hair, trying to get it into at least some semblance of order. L, being part Fairy, and therefore very sensitive when it came to his hair, was all but purring in delight. They were talking idly, the words coming easily, far easier than they had when Light was being controlled by the Death Note.

"Light, since it seems that we have a large amount of time before we leave for dinner, do you think you could tell me about the Unseelie court?"

"Sure." Light shrugged. "I'm kind of surprised that you didn't know anything about it yourself. They're rather famous among the Irish, actually. Didn't study much mythology growing up, did you?"

"You're right. I was much more focused on things that could help me as a detective than fantasy. Not through my own choice, admittedly."

"That sucks. Myths and legends are really fascinating, even the ones that aren't based off of reality. Anyway, there are two courts in the Faerie Realm. There is the Seelie court, and the Unseelie court."   
"I think you mentioned that earlier. Why are you repeating yourself?"

"I know I said that, but still. You can't understand one without the other, so you'll be learning about both."

"I see...that makes sense. Like darkness and light."

"I suppose so. Anyway, the Seelie and the Unseelie courts are complete opposites."

"How so?"

"The Seelie court is full of what humans call Light fairies," Light said, eyes growing distant as he slowed his brushing of L's hair. He was remembering when he learned that lesson, from Jaryn. "They are carefree and joyful, but with capricious temperments. Quick to anger and quick to calm, they draw their power from the sun and are drawn to the day. Their power is the strongest in the summer and their wings are always hot colors. They almost never become Blinded, though they do occasionally kidnap a human child and raise it as their own. They prefer meadows of tall grass, and rarely grow taller than about waist high on a human. They also hold the most power in the Faerie Realm."

"I see. What about the Unseelie court? If they are opposites, then that would imply..." L said, leaning back slightly into Light's body, wanting to give his - Boyfriend? Lover? Partner? L wasn't sure which word would be entirely right. - some comfort.

Light smiled and wrapped his arms around L, leaning back against the headboard. "Yes. The Unseelie court is comprised of the Fairies that humans would call dark or evil. But they're not entirely right. Dark is not evil, nor are the Unseelie court. Their domain is the night and they grow the most powerful in the dead of winter, when the moon holds sway over the frosted lands. They are slower to anger, but also slower to forgive. It may be hard to gain an Unseelie Fairy's trust, but once you have it, you have it for life.

"Their wings tend towards neutral and cool colors. Only the royal family has black wings, like the ones you said you grew. Most of the Unseelie court sincerely hate the war. They are larger than the Seelie court, tending towards the size of a normal human, but are the lesser of the two courts of Faerie. The Unseelie court fey are far more likely to become Blinded than the Seelie. Most recently, the two children of the Unseelie King became Blinded, about forty years ago."

L shivered. "My parents?"

"Your father, most likely." Light corrected. "He was Blinded about a year before the king's daughter was. She had only one child. A girl, who she named Lujayn."

L had no idea how to respond to that. How does one comfort their partner, who is remembering the girl he was supposed to marry but died, who just so happened to be the cousin you never knew you had? L decided to change the subject. "Have you ever been to Faerie, Light?"

Light smiled, resting his chin on L's head. "A few times. Each court has its own lands, and we usually go to the Seelie court when we're there. Only once have I ever gone to the lands of the Unseelie. We had the good fortune to come in the middle of winter, on a full moon. It's beautiful."

"What did it look like? You said that the Realm of Faerie is vastly different from this world."

Light sighed, rustling L's hair with his breath. L shivered.

"I'm not entirely sure that I can describe it. Faerie is wild. You can see the vitality of the land there in a way that has been long lost in other places. The moon is whiter than anything I have ever seen, and brighter than it is here on Earth. It was the middle of the night, and the full moon was high in the sky, but seeming to hang closer to the horizon than the Earth's moon. The air seared our lungs with cold. Everything was draped with ice and the snow was crystallized. The moonlight was being reflected off of the ice, and even though the sky was black, it was as bright as the middle of the day. It was...something out of a fairy-tale, ironic as that description may be. It was the second most beautiful sight I have ever seen."

L shivered. The sheer longing in Light's voice frightened him. L vowed that he would try his hardest to _not_ visit the Realm that should have been his home by rights. If it could entrance Light, one of the strongest individuals he knew, what would it do to him?

After a while, L found his voice again. "What...what was the most beautiful sight you have ever seen, Light?"

Light jumped slightly in surprise. "What?"

"You said that it was the second most beautiful thing you have ever seen. What is the most beautiful?" L turned around so he could look into Light's eyes.

Light shook his head. "I'm not going to tell you that."

L widened his eyes and let them begin to water a bit. "Why not? Don't you trust me?"

Light laughed and shook his head. "Because it would sound cheesier than a pizza. And don't try the puppy dog eyes trick on me. Aryn and I are the masters of the puppy eyes."

L pouted. "Why must you ruin all my fun?"

Light chuckled and nuzzled L's ear, before nipping it gently. "I don't ruin all your fun, do I?"

L froze, wide-eyed. He had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Light decided to change the subject. "You know, we could probably find a way to give you your wings back."

L turned around completely so he was staring straight into Light's eyes. "You would...do that?" he breathed, hardly daring to hope. For as long as he could remember, flight had fascinated him, and been something that he wan-no needed to be able to do himself.

"Of course." Light responded. "Like it or not, you're one of us now. And we'd go past the ends of the earth for each other."

L cocked an eyebrow wryly. "And how, exactly, did I become a part of the group?"

Light pretended to think. "Well, there's the fact that you're essentially royalty hiding out in the human Realm, regardless of the fact that you had no idea that you weren't human. Then there's the fact that you are the cousin of someone who Aryn and I feel we failed seven years ago. And then, of course, there's the fact that you managed to worm your way into my heart, a feat only accomplished by five others, and you are the only one I've ever felt the way I do for. Face it, you're stuck with us."

L kissed the tip of Light's nose. Light crossed his eyes for a moment. "In that case, I do believe that I could have done _far_ worse."

Light smiled softly. "Yes, I suppose you could have...You could have ended up with that one girl who had a crush on you at the university!"

L frowned. "What girl would that be?"

Light sighed in frustration. "You know, the one who was stalking us the entire time?" L still looked confused. "Never mind. You know, I might not be able to do anything for getting your wings _back_ before dinner, but I can at least begin to try to find out why they disappeared. By all rights, from your twelfth birthday, you should have been walking around with black wings on your back, and the fact that you only saw them for an instant before you passed out says volumes for the fact that there was foul play of some sort involved."

"Is...Are you saying that..." L was at a loss for words. Was Light implying that...one of the people at Wammy's knew of the Realms, and had changed something in L?

Light nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so. Fairy wings are a bit like a lizard's tail. They grow back if they're cut off, so you should still have yours. But, let's not focus on that right now. Right now, let's try to find out what exactly happened so it can be fixed, okay?"

"Okay," L agreed. "What do you have to do to find out what happened?"

"Well, there are several things that I could do. I could make you relive the night you grew your wings, however I don't want to do that. It's very painful to grow wings, and once is enough for that experience. I'm not going to make you go through that again."

"What are the other methods?"

"I could try to recover your wings while flying blind, but there's no telling what might happen if I try to do that. It would be very easy for me to irreparably harm your magical core, which would most likely lead to you dying. Not a good thing."

"No, I very much like life. I would rather not give it up anytime soon." L agreed, wide-eyed.

"And then there's the final way. It's the safest, and least painful, but it would also be very difficult. I'd be looking at your aura, and tweaking things there, to bring your fairy genes to dominance, rather than you human genes. Also to get rid of whatever block was put on your fairy genes to keep them from asserting themselves," Light said, pulling L slightly closer to him.

"Why would it be difficult? If it's the safest and least painful, then shouldn't we go with that option?"

"...It would require absolute trust between us." Light said, already afraid of L's reaction to some of his secrets. He was Kira (Maybe not through his own will, but still!) and he had fought for millennia in a War, killing no one knew how many intelligent beings.

"But I do trust you." L frowned in confusion. Why did Light look so worried?

"No, I mean, we would have to know all of each other's secrets, and still trust the other." Light looked away, ashamed.

"...I see. Well, that might take awhile, but I doubt that anything could make me stop trusting you."

"L, you don't understand. I'm the only one of us who would be able to do that, and L... I've fought in a war. For millennia. I'm not proud of the things I did, and I don't think that anyone would be able to trust me after hearing about the things I've done. Still do, to keep the humans safe," Light said, voice rising hysterically.

L was about to say something, when Aryn stuck her head into Light's room. Again.

"Hey guys, it's time to go! We're going over to Light's place to pick up Sayu, an then we're going to go to the restaurant!"

And Aryn disappeared again.

"Light, I'm afraid your sister scares me," L said after a long pause.

* * *

Couple things to say.

First: I like my Misa!

Second: I want to explain my reasoning behind hte scenes here, since I know that nothing frustrates me more than writing a story where Light and L are immediately in a relationship. First off, L is an insomniac, and Light has his body adjusted to go at somewhat close to English hours. That would mean that they would have many chances to talk while the est of the team was gone, therefore letting L get to know the _real_ Light and giving Light a chance to act like himself, and see L _not_ shying away from his insanity.

Light is insecure because, well, he's killed billions of people in his lives. He can't imagine L, the best detective in the world, accepting that.

Third: Holy shit! I _still_ can't believe that I made one of the Wammy's people a traitor! Bet you people can't guess who, though! You won't find out in-story for a long time. As in, I'm writing Chapter 18, and it _still_ hasn't come out.


	12. Mello's Revelation and Matt's Solution

Right, here's the next chapter. Just so you know, a good portion of the time while I'm writing this story, I have no clue in hell where the story's going to choose to go. therefore, when I wrote this and what happened happened, I was nearly as surprised as I bet you'll be. Oh, and there are suckish breadstick fights!

Disclaimer: Do you seriously not know that I don't own Death Note? :huffs: .!:|=-(eye-dee-ten-tees) Frosty says you're all idiots.

* * *

**Chapter 12 - Mello's Revelation and Matt's Solution **  


* * *

The hostess of Tokyo's newest English-style restaurant, _Illumina_, was treated to a rare sight on August 2, 2003. Namely, that of a group of eight teens walking in like they owned the place and telling the hostess that they had a reservation. Under the name 'Arget'.

Everyone knew that there was only one Arget left! And she was in America!

Ah well, far be it from _her_ to turn away paying customers. Even if they did look a bit on the... young side. And if they ended up not being able to pay... Well, she could always point the management in the direction of the rule that said that 'The customer is always right.' And then point out that _she_ certainly didn't have the authority to do anything to those teens, when asked to explain why _she_ didn't stop them.

So the hostess smiled and checked her list. Sure enough, there was a reservation for eight under the name Arget there.

"Right this way," she said, gathering enough menus and walking off, expecting the teens to follow her.

Aryn, Near, Matt, Mello, Light, L, Misa, and Sayu followed her. Sayu was slightly nervous, having never been in a restaurant like this before.

Misa noticed her discomfort and began to comfort her. "Don't worry," she whispered. "Misa has to go to this sort of restaurant all the time. It's actually really easy. Tell you what, Misa will help you! How does that sound?"

"Thank you," Sayu muttered, feeling ridiculously plain next to the blonde model.

Misa winked at her. "Really, Misa dislikes this type of restaurant. But, apparently Light promised Mello-san that he would take them out to this restaurant. And Aryn-san has the best combination of puppy dog eyes and guilt trip Misa has ever encountered."

"Pu...ppy dog eyes?" Sayu asked slowly, trying to figure out why Misa was talking to her. Shouldn't she be paying attention to her boyfriend?

Misa nodded. "Yes. Misa didn't want to go, cause she doesn't like feeling like a fifth...well, seventh wheel. But Aryn-san said that she didn't want to be the only girl, and Misa saw what she meant."

"Why didn't you want to go?" Sayu asked, confused. "Wouldn't you want to spend time with Light?"

Misa shrugged and sighed. "Misa and Light aren't dating anymore."

"What?" Sayu asked. Why? Light and Misa had seemed perfect together!

Misa smiled softly. "Light didn't...he liked someone else, and Misa knew that it wasn't fair to Light to be stuck with her. So, Misa and Light aren't dating anymore."

"I...see..." Sayu said slowly, trying to figure out who her brother could like, other than Misa. Wasn't there some girl at To-oh that liked Light? Takoya, or something like that.

"Here's your table," the hostess said, startling Sayu out of her thoughts. Apparently, they were being given a round table. Whatever.

"Thank you, Waitress-san," Misa said politely, sitting down. Sayu hastened to copy her.

After everyone had sat themselves down and gotten comfortable, Aryn noticed that Misa and Sayu were talking to each other again. She grinned and leaned over to whisper in Light's ear. "Don't look now, but I think that Misa has set her sights on your sister."

Light looked at her in confusion. Aryn sighed and pointed at Sayu and Misa, who were laughing over something the younger girl had said. Misa did seem to be paying all of her attention to Sayu.

"I think that I should be going all over-protective-big-brother on Misa. Sayu's too young for her." Light said with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Misa is about five years older than Sayu. At this point, that's still a rather large gap in their ages."

Aryn shook her head. "Nah. It's not too bad. Not like, fifteen years or something. They'll be fine." Aryn rolled her eyes. "At least they have _some_ form of a clue when it comes to feelings. Look at Matt and Mello. They're so obvious, and yet neither of them have any clue how the other feels!"

Light smiled as he watched Matt and Mello, who were talking too quietly for any of the others to hear what they were saying. However, actions spoke louder than words in their case.  


* * *

Matt sighed, slumping down to lay his head on the table, soaking in the slight chill of the tablecloth. He was exhausted. He hadn't recovered from scanning L, and was fairly sure that he was coming down with something, thanks to the fact that, for the next couple of days, his immune system was taken down to about half the level of a healthy humans. His magic took care of most germs before they got into him, so when he didn't have his magic, he really suffered.

Mello looked at Matt in concern. "You okay?"

Matt groaned. "Not really. I feel like I tried to take on a fucking army by myself. I have _never_ met someone with mental barriers like L's. They're fucking incapacitating!"

Mello stroked Matt's hair gently. "Not even Light?"

Matt rolled his head slightly so he could look at Mello. "I have no clue. I haven't ever looked into Light, and at the moment I am so damn grateful for that fact. But yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if Light's barriers were at least a little weaker than L's."

"Why's that?" Mello kept up his repetitive stroking of Matt's hair, grateful that the younger boy was relaxing a bit.

Matt's eyes closed as he attempted to explain what he had felt in L's mind. "Because there's something else there. I didn't quite do a full scan, even. There was something there, something that would have eaten into me, consumed me and left not a single trace. It was evil and malevolent, and like nothing we have ever seen before. The closest thing we have ever come across...is that Shingami's notebook's presence. But not quite. I barely got out of his mind in time. A second later, and that presence would have devoured me." Matt frowned in annoyance as Mello stopped stroking his hair and glared at him.

"Why the hell didn't you say anything about that earlier?" Mello asked angrily. "If L's evil, why the hell haven't you told anyone? In case you've forgotten, the five of us are _the_ most wanted beings in all the Realms! What if he's a spy, and trying to get close to us." Mello began gesturing wildly in his anger. Matt opened one eyes to glare at him.

"Mello, calm down. You're making a fool of yourself. None of the others can hear what we're saying, so stop acting like there's something wrong." Matt sighed in relief as a waitress came by with glasses of ice water. He gulped down the one he was given, and eyed Mello's. Mello sighed, pushing it over to him.

"Here you go. The ice interferes with my fire anyway. Now, explain! Why the hell didn't you tell anyone about L being evil? And why the hell are you messing with their hearing?" Mello glared at Matt, letting his glamour fade slightly, causing his eyes to glow sickly yellow-green for a moment.

Matt sighed, feeling helpless. He hoped that Mello could calm down for a moment to see it from _his_ perspective. "Mello, the presence...isn't L. It's not human, and it's not fairy. L _is_. I have no idea what it is, but at the moment, it's just sitting there in L's mind. Just observing. L's really only known about the Realms for a day or so. Do you really think it's a good idea to go up to him and tell him that he has something that might hurt him or someone else in his mind, and that we have no real way to get rid of it?"

Mello nodded thoughtfully. "You're right. That would be stupid in monumental portions."

"Especially since we have no idea what this thing could _do_ if we were to let it know that we knew about it. I'm fairly sure that it has no clue that I know about it, which is probably the only reason that _my_ body isn't the one hosting a foreign mind." Matt sat up fully and stared at Mello, willing him to see the seriousness of the situation. Really, Mello was the only one he dared tell at the moment, and Matt knew he wasn't strong enough to deal with this alone.

Mello frowned in confusion. "Why can't any of the others know though?"

Matt sighed. "If L finds out, the thing finds out. Sayu, while having a good understanding of our world, isn't really a _part_ of it. She's human, so it would be no use telling her. Misa, same thing, except she doesn't understand our world. If we were to tell Light he'd tell L."

"No he wou-" Mello began, before getting cut off by Matt.

"Yes he would. Once I finish explaining,_ watch them._ You should be able to see it fairly easily. Aryn can't know, because she'd tell Light. Probably accidentally, but still. If Near knew, he'd tell Aryn, leading back to the problems with telling Aryn directly. Face it, Mello. We're on our own at the moment." Matt stared into Mello's eyes willing him to just _understand_.

Mello deflated slightly, before turning back to face the table, rather than Matt. He stared sullenly at Light and L, before getting smacked across the back of the head by Matt.

"Not so obvious, idiot! Sideways glances, okay? We _cannot_ be obvious. If we do, then there's a large chance that we are _screwed_! Treat it like...we're on an infiltration mission. We have to act normal, or else!" Matt hissed.

Mello rubbed the back of his head. "Okay." He rolled his eyes and picked his menu up, inconspicuously looking at the two sideways from behind his menu. "Is this better?"

Matt nodded in satisfaction. "Much."

Mello paused for a moment and then realized something. "Hey! This menu is in English!"

Matt sunk his head into his hands. "Odin, Mello, how the hell do you have an IQ over 150? You're an idiot!" Then Matt lowered his voice. "I can't keep changing their hearing anymore. Do not speak of what I learned."

And Matt stopped twisting the fluid in the surrounding people's ears so that they could hear neither Mello nor Matt's voice patterns.

Coincidentally, at that exact moment, the waitress brought a basket of breadsticks to the table.

Light grinned evilly, glancing at Mello. Mello set his menu down carefully, and narrowed his eyes in challenge. Both reached out for a breadstick. L suddenly felt that he should move rather quickly, being seated between the two, and promptly vacated his seat in favor of the empty one next to Misa.

Aryn smiled, always enjoying the duo's pointless little fights. Matt groaned, already trying to figure out how much money they would have to pay the management off with in order for them to stay in the restaurant. Near grabbed a breadstick from the basket too fast for human eyes to follow, and began nibbling on it while he continued looking at the menu, trying to decide what he wanted.

Sayu giggled, knowing what that look meant. Misa frowned in confusion, and Sayu took pity on her.

"Those two always mock sword-fight with breadsticks. There's a _reason_ we're going to one of the newer nice restaurants. All the other ones have those five banned."

Misa nodded in understanding. Next to her, so did L.

Light and Mello were both armed now, and staring each other down. Their weapons of choice were held at the ready, and all that was left was to see who cracked and attacked first.

Suddenly, Light's breadstick darted forward in an attempt to take advantage of a break in Mello's defense. In a flash, Mello's breadstick was there to block him. Light retreated, leaving behind a few crumbs of garlic salt as a tribute to the first contact of the battle.

A pause, as the combatant assessed each other's position, and then Mello saw an opening.

He feinted to the right before going for a head shot. Light blocked his attempted hit quickly, having been the one to teach Mello that trick.

One expects a feint to move in the opposite direction that the sword (or breadstick as the case may be) had been going, not at roughly a ninety degree angle upwards.

Their breadsticks clashed. Garlic salt went flying as each struggled to force the other's breadstick back. Mello tried to twist his breadstick, to roll Light's out of his hand, which _should_ have left Mello with both of the weapons.

The breadsticks broke.

Light stared at the crumbs on the table, before turning his gaze to his hand, where he still held the other half of the breadstick.

Mello snorted before beginning to laugh hysterically.

"I...I can't believe it _did_ that!" Light cried dramatically, throwing the breadstick up in the air before walking stiffly around the table to where L was now sitting and curling up in L's lap, sobbing. "Please...hold me. I can't take the cruelties of life anymore! I HAVE LOST MY FAITH IN THE JUSTICE OF THE MULTIVERSE!" Light began sobbing dramatically into L's shirt. L hesitantly brought his arms up around Light.

"It's...okay? There'll be other breadsticks?" L really sucked at comforting people in their time of need.

However, Light was in his element, and not about to let a little thing like sucky comforters stop him. He sobbed even harder. "Ryuuzaki is so kind to me! I am not worthy, or my breadstick would not have broken!"

Aryn sighed in annoyance. Whose _bright_ idea was it to give Light acting lessons? Her asshole brother had too much talent when it came to faking overly-dramatic reactions. Oh right, that was her.

Matt slapped Light upside the back of the head. It was nowhere near as hard as it _should_ have been, thanks to that whatever-the-hell-it-was in L's head. "Stop being so over-dramatic, it was just a freaking breadstick!"

Light sniffled and pulled closer to L. "Matt is so mean to me! Why does everyone betray me?!?!?" He looked up at L with watery eyes. "You'll never betray me, will you Ryuuzaki?"

L sighed, pulling Light a little closer and looking down at him gently. "Of course not, Light."

Light sighed in contentment and snuggled into L. Mission accomplished. He'd never really been able to snuggle with anyone but Aryn, so it was a rare treat for him to be able to do so. Light also knew that L hadn't really had much human contact in his life. So, Light had made it his mission to get to snuggle with L during dinner.

And it had worked!

Mello stared at Light for a second, confused. He had never seen Light act clingy like that before. Maybe...was that...? Could Matt have meant? The two were acting a bit like Aryn and Near had shortly after they had gotten over their hesitance to act on their feelings. But then, then they'd known each other for a year, not barely a month. (The time that Light had been Kira didn't count.) Then the trance he had managed to put himself in was broken by a tap to his shoulder.

Mello spun around, a curse on his lips as he held the broken breadstick up like a weapon. The waitress blinked at Mello's hostile reaction before shrugging and frowning.

"Sir, your party is disturbing the other customers. I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave."

Matt sighed. That was his cue. He stood up and stepped forward, smiling.

"Ma'am, isn't there any way for us to stay here? I'm terribly sorry about my friends behavior, but they have a few problems, and their medicine ran out earlier today." Matt lowered his voice. "I'm willing to pay you quite a lot if you can just... forget... this ever happened."

The waitress arched an eyebrow. Hmm...this kid was asking her to leave the group that was already driving away customers alone? And he would pay her to do so? What should she do...

She smiled. "10,000 yen and you have yourself a deal."

Matt smirked. Now here was a girl he could get to like. However, more than one hundred American dollars was far too much. "3,000."

"9,000."

"4,000."

"8,000."

"5,000."

"7,000."

"6,000 and that's final." Matt smirked at her. Surely the woman wouldn't pass up 64 American dollars?

The waitress smirked right back. "It's a deal. My money?"

"As a tip. After we eat, when it won't look suspicious for money to be changing hands."

The waitress' smirk turned into a smile. "Of course. Now," She raised her voice and turned to the rest of the table. They were all staring slack-jawed at her sudden change in attitude, the two discussing money having been speaking far too low for any of the others to hear what they were saying. At some point L and Light had returned to their original seats, mainly at L's insistence. "what would you all like to eat?"

"Do you suppose that you could come back later? I think that I am the only one who has actually looked at my menu." Near said to fill in the awkward silence that was caused by baffled looks being thrown around the table. It was true, he _was_ the only one who had bothered to look at the menu.

The waitress winked. "I know how that goes. Of course I'm willing to come back in about five minutes. That sound like enough time for you?" Upon seeing their dumbfounded nods, she flounced away, leaving a cloud of perfume behind.

For a moment there was silence, and then Mello decided to ask the question that was on everyone's mind.

"What the hell just happened?"

Matt smirked as he sat down again. "I do believe that _I_ just saved our sorry asses from getting kicked out of the restaurant. And most likely banned from _another_ restaurant."

"I believe what Mello meant to ask, Matt, was _how_ did you save us from getting kicked out?" Near interjected before Mello outraged spluttering could become anything more.

Matt took a roll of bills out of his pocket, and flipped through them, smirking at Near. "Well, as the saying goes, money _talks_."

L frowned in confusion, before looking at Light and asking him, "Is Matt not afraid that you will run out of money at some point in your life? You _are_ all orphans."

Light opened his eyes and looked at L. "Why would he? We're loaded."

"But still... staying in a restaurant is such a trivial thing. Why throw money away for something like that?"

Light laughed. "When I said loaded, I meant _loaded_. Aryn and I are the only heirs to the oldest fortune in the world. On top of that, Aryn's got the Arget fortune. Then there's Near, who's the last Tepes in the Realms, and therefore the owner of the Draculea fortune. Mello's set to inherit a _Mafia_, and Matt's the best hacker in the world. We're probably the five richest people in all of the worlds."

L cocked his head to the side. "You're being very free with speaking about illegal acts around the best detective in the world."

Light shrugged, grinning. "Well, we have to share our secrets anyway. Besides, I know that you're a detective for the thrill of the chase, the joy of solving the puzzles. Therefore, me _telling_ you that Matt's an awesome hacker, means that there is no chance of you going after him."

L shook his head. "The worrying part of that sentence is the fact that the 'logic' behind it is non-existent, yet makes complete sense."

Mello, over-hearing their conversation, broke in at this point. "That's us, Sector L-5, fine purveyors of Un-Logic, which makes no sense, but gets you to the right conclusions, since 1999!"

Matt stared at him for a moment. "You know, sometimes I really wonder about you."

Mello raised an eyebrow at Matt. "Now why would you do something like that?"

Matt shrugged. "You know, just wondering if you listen to half the crap that comes out of your mouth. Or any of it really."

"Of course I listen to what's coming out of my mouth, idiot!" Matt raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Most of the time." The second eyebrow joined the first. "Some of the time."  
Matt crossed his arms. "Occasionally." Matt leaned back in his chair, staring at Mello. "All right, only at very infrequent intervals! Odin, happy now?"

Matt smirked. "Exceptionally."

Mello realized what he had just said and glared at Matt. "Asshole."

Matt shrugged. "Whatever." And then he turned to the waitress, who had returned to take their order.  


* * *

An hour later, the group of eight walked out of the restaurant, ready to go back to the building and sleep. but then Aryn stopped stock still.

"That fucker," she whispered, staring across the street. "He didn't."

Across the street, a neon sign blinked at the stunned group of eight. _The Falling Seraphim_, it read, surmounted by a stylized drawing of a crescent moon being pierced on a blade.

* * *

e-Cookie and a mention in my next chapter if anyone can come anywhere close to the truth about what that building is, and why Aryn is so mad about it.

Yeah, the breadstick fight came from nowhere.

I think the thing in L's head came from when his fairy genes were surpressed.

I don't think that there actually is a restaurant named Illumina in Tokyo, and if there is I highly doubt it's anything like the one in my Tokyo. Mine doesn't seem to treat its employees very well, does it?

Tune in for the next chapter, **Light's Protection and Aryn's Decision**, in which we get to learn something about hte structure of the ruling body of the non-humans. And we get to see Near totally freak out.


	13. Light's Protection and Aryn's Decision

I'm writing Chapter 20 right now, and I'm starting to wonder if this story will ever get finished. Sure doesn't seem likely right now. 77,300 words and counting.

Disclaimer: I've said this twelve times already, _in this story alone_. When are you people gonna get the fact that I don't own Death Note or any other random crpa that you people recognize from other places. I'm fairly sure that the Courts, Aryn, and Illumina are mine, although the myths that went into the three Courts are not mine.

* * *

**Chapter 13 - Light's Protection and Aryn's Decision**

* * *

"Oh _hell_ no," Aryn muttered as she strode angrily across the street, the rest of L-5 following, recognizing what Aryn was so angry about and angry themselves. "He better not have."

"Aryn-san, what's wrong?" Misa asked.

L-5 turned around, surprised that the others hadn't followed.

"That's right," Matt muttered. "You guys don't know. Trust me, you'll be safe. And we'll explain. Promise."

"Okay then." Sayu shrugged and walked across the street. Well, she tried to, but was pulled back by Misa. Sayu looked at Misa in confusion. "What's wrong with you?"

"How do we know that we'll be safe?" Misa asked softly. "They're not human, do they really know how much a human body can take?"

Sayu glared at her. "I happen to view all five of them as siblings, and I know that they view me as their little sister. If they say it's safe for me, then it's safe for me. Don't think that they don't know how much a human body can take." Sayu turned and walked across the street. L and Misa, who followed her, could have sworn that they heard her mutter a few more words. "They sure as hell have busted up enough bodies to know what each of the races can take."

L wondered what Sayu meant, while Misa decided that she didn't really want to know. Misa had been told that she was a bit like a cat at times, she knew she had, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember who it was that had said that to her. Well, Misa had decided that it was best to stay on the safe side, and not take her cat resemblance to the next level by following the 'Curiosity killed the cat' saying. She liked her life right where it was, in her body, thank you very much!

Aryn glared up at the blinking sign before sighing and looking at the others. "Well, shall we?"

Light nodded, also incensed. "Let's," he growled, sounding for all the world like an outraged dog.

"The idiot won't know what hit him," Mello muttered as he summoned his katana, only to be whacked on the head by Matt. "Ow!"

"We're _not_ going to kill him. Or even maim his scaly ass. It's bad for us to go around killing people. Okay, Mello?" Matt rolled his eyes as they strode forward and into the club before them.

"REX!" Aryn yelled as they stormed into the club, followed quickly by the other three. "GET YOUR SCALY ASS OUT HERE BEFORE I DRAG IT OUT FOR YOU!"

The pounding music stopped, and most of the patrons, who were, by and large, non-human, turned around to stare at the group of eight. And then, upon seeing how pissed off Aryn was, they turned back to what they were doing. The five of them were rather famous, being essentially the rulers of the non-humans on Earth and all, and it was a well-known fact that when Aryn Arget-Yagami-Suino was pissed, it was a good idea to keep your head down and hope like hell that you didn't draw her attention to you.

A brawny, blue, scaled humanoid wearing a brown trench coat stepped forward confidently. "Yes, Lady Redszaz?" he asked. "What have I done that displeased you?" The music resumed blaring.

Aryn glared at him. "You know damn well what you did, Rex! You know how much Light and I do to keep the Court safe, and you put such a bare sign up, in the heart of Tokyo!" Aryn began pacing wildly, waving her hands in agitation. "What if one of the other Courts found that sign!? You know damn well that they think that there's only about a thousand deserters the world over! We _don't_ need them finding out that there's upwards of a million first-generationals, let alone the descendants! They'd eradicate this entire _fucking_ Realm! And at the moment, this club is the most bald-faced, most obvious, most _idiotic_, clue they could possibly have." Aryn stopped her pacing to glare at Rex. "You will change the name. Now."

L tilted his head to the side, frowning slightly in confusion. "Why is Aryn the one to be getting upset over this? Shouldn't something like that go to the government?" L asked Light softly.

Light laughed. "We _are_ the government. Well, the phrase that is used is Court, and it works a lot like the feudal system did on earth. Most non-humans rank according to magical strength. Aryn and I are the two strongest beings in this Realm, so we are the rulers. Near is Aryn's consort according to the language of the court. Matt and Mello are a cross between princes and warlords. That draman over there is Rex, who is a second generation dragon demon/ human crossbreed. He's also one of the members of the Coyrt. One of the minor lords or something."

L nodded in understanding before frowning. "Why wouldn't the other races not know how many non-humans there are on Earth? Aryn said something along those lines."

Light sighed, deflating slightly. "The Courts don't really...pay that much attention to the rank and file under their command. They're too caught up in vengeance for some slight that no one remembers anymore. So, when one of the lower ranks is Blinded, or Falls, or becomes Tainted, it isn't noticed. Only when one of the commanders, or one of the royal family, or something along those lines, runs to Earth is it noticed."

"Well, that's a cheerful thought," Sayu quipped from the other side of Misa, both of whom were also listening to Light's explanation. Light had never really explained that too well to Sayu, so this was the first time she was hearing most of this stuff.

Light shrugged, having grown up with a Court that thought like that the first time he lived. And he felt like such a pedophile when he thought about it, considering that L was about a thousand years younger than him, mentally. "So, the Courts are only aware of about one thousandth or less of the Taintings, Blindings and Fallings that occur. They think that those are the only Taintings, Blindings and Fallings that go on, and they never bother to look for more."

"So they've grown stagnant in the face of their own power?" L asked.

"That's a good way to put it," Matt jumped in. "They're secure in the knowledge that there are too few Angels, Demons, Fairies, Halves, like Mello and me, and Descendants, like a vampire which is distantly descended from a energy Demon, to pose much of a threat to them. Especially considering the fact that they think that we are too disorganized to create our own Court. Honestly, they think that the only reason that Aryn, Light, Mello, Near and I protect the population is cause we're part human, not cause we're protecting both our own people _and _the humans."

"If they knew exactly how much of the population of the Earth is actually not fully human, they'd attempt to make sure that there were only four Realms. That's why this club is so dangerous. That sign out there? The picture is Light and Aryn's crest. According to the Courts, no one here who knows that crest should have the time to run a club like this," Near added.

"And if one Realm ends up getting destroyed, there's a high chance that the other Realms will be following it. The existence of this club could mean the death of our entire kingdom," Matt finished. "The death of the planet, the death of this entire Realm, the death of the multiverse, the death of _everything_. Do you see now? Why we're so angry?"

A loud thud resounded throughout the club.

"Fuck!" Aryn hissed, whirling around. "We were too late. They found this place."

The customers began panicking and pushing each other out of the way as they tried to run away from the club that was now under attack. A few of the more powerful beings popped away to their homes, while the majority attempted to get away on foot.

_Thud_.

Aryn assessed the group before her. "Near, can you take L, Misa and Sayu out of here? Get them to the investigative headquarters."

"But-" Near began.

"No. You know how powerful Light and I can be if necessary. I swear we'll be okay." Aryn cut him off, begging him with her eyes to understand.

_Thud_.

"I-"

"_Please_. Near-babe, think about it. Mello can freeze them, Matt can control blood even when weak, Light souls and I can make air-blades, but you're defensive. _Please_, Near, we'll be okay. If necessary..." Aryn bit her lip as she prepared to make a promise that could potentially cost millions of lives. "...if necessary, we'll level Tokyo. They're humans. They have no training, can't fight, will die if they don't get out of here. I need you to take them."

Near deflated. "O-"

But he never got a chance to finish his sentence, as, at that moment, the front wall of the club collapsed in a shudder of dust and sparks of electricity. Aryn grabbed Near and kissed him savagely before letting him go and pushing him towards L and Misa and Sayu, who were terrified and clutching on to each other, though it was doubtful they even realized what they were doing.

"Go!" she hissed, before turning to face the oncoming hordes of Demons. Then, the back wall exploded inwards. Behind were a compliment of Angels, some of which Aryn thought she recognized from her time as Redzasz.

Aryn glared through the dust at Near, who was still hesitating. "Go!" Near snapped out of his daze, and raced over to L, Misa and Sayu. He grabbed onto the three of them and flashed them back to the investigative headquarters.

Light turned to face the oncoming Angels. Aryn stared down the Demons while Matt and Mello guarded their flanks, knowing that if the Angels and Demons knew about the club, then the Faeries sure as hell knew. The only problem was, where would they come from?

In a flash, Matt and Mello dropped their glamours. Aryn and Light drew upon the locked part of their Seraphim powers. If they tried to use too much of them at once, then they would lose their mind with power and attack anyone near them. Just a small bit, however, would return them to their original forms, those of Redzasz and Balbdas, albeit somewhat weaker than usual.

Dual blinding flashes of white light filled the destroyed club, halting the advancing armies as they stared in awe at two of the most feared figures of all time as they were reborn.

Redzasz stood at about seven feet tall, with two sets of wings, both red-on-black and razor sharp. In each hand she held a jagged dagger with rusty-red bloodstains covering it as she cooly surveyed the frozen troops with pure onyx eyes.

Balbdas was eight feet tall, and bore three sets of black wings, a number almost unthinkable for an Angel, even one of the Seraphim. Only the Archangels could boast of having more! His pure white eyes glowed with power as he adjusted his grip on his double-bladed naginata.

The two attacking armies quivered in fear. The Courts had said that there was a chance that they'd be going up against the Fallen Seraphim, but knowing and seeing were two completely different things.

Matt and Mello exchanged worried glances. This was the first time that Aryn and Light had gone so far out, so soon into a battle. Then again, this was the first time a battle _began_ in the middle of a city this big. There was a rather large chance that they'd end up exposing the non-humans if the battle went on too long and, given the human propensity for dissection and xenophobia, that would be a _very_ bad thing. Light and Aryn probably wanted to get this over with quickly.

And then the army of Faerie crashed in through the ceiling and all conscious thought fled from their brains as the four forces crashed together and began fighting. As always, later, none of them would be able to remember anything more than a few vivid flashes of blood, guts and gore.  


* * *

Near was going out of his mind with worry. The bond may not be something that they were really able to use when they were together, but it still left them with a sense of the others at the back of their mind. That sense had disappeared now. This was the first time Near had ever not been able to battle, so he didn't really know whether this was normal or not, but it was driving him insane with worry.

L, Misa and Sayu watched in worry as Near began pacing frantically, muttering to himself.

"Umm..." Misa didn't really know what to say. Sayu, on the other hand, had some sort of an idea what was wrong.

"Hey, it's okay. They'll be fine. You guys always come back in one piece. Why would this time be any different?" Sayu comforted Near as she sat him down on the couch with a comforting arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"It's not," Near admitted. "They're going to be fine, and I know that, but... Logically there's no reason for me to feel like this."

"Hey," Sayu soothed. "Not everything has to be logical. You think that everything you guys can do is _logical_? Not at all. So, for once, discard the logic and let yourself _feel_."

Near sighed. "This is the first time that any of us have been left behind. I don't feel right, not fighting alongside them."

Sayu rubbed soothing circles on Near's back. "It's okay. You know they'll be fine. If it comes down to it, you know Aryn'll level Tokyo to get back to you. Course, that's a last resort, but still."

"I think that there is probably something greatly wrong with this picture." L observed idly. Misa shrugged.

"Probably the fact that she's probably a couple of years younger than him, but is reacting to this so much better."

L looked at her startled. How did the blonde ditz figure something like that out?

Misa caught his surprise and smirked at him. "What, did you really think Misa was as dumb as she acts? Models are supposed to have great bodies, not a great mind."

How was it that L had missed so many small things in this case, leading to him being so far off as he was? Some greatest detective in the world he was.

Near sighed in frustration, all but pulling his hair out in worry. "I'm going to go crazy if I don't have anything to do." He stood up. "Does anyone care to watch a movie of some sort? I believe we have some horror movies around, and if I know Aryn, we have Monty Python somewhere."

L was confused for a moment before realizing that this must be Near's way of coping, just blocking off the worry or horror until he was able to deal with it. Misa was confused.

"What's Monty Python?" she asked.

Sayu stared at her for a moment. "...You've never heard of Monty Python? YOU HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED! But...how's your English?"

Misa shrugged. "Pretty good."

Sayu grinned. "Well then, Near, I do believe you have your answer. We're introducing the poor girl to Monty Python!"

Near sighed and walked back to the back, where he began searching through all three of the rooms, muttering to himself. "Aryn may be a perfectionist when it comes to her paints, but she just throws everything else into a random suitcase and doesn't pay any attention to where it is. It gets somewhat hard to find a specific thing." Then he raised his voice and yelled back to the living room. "Is the Holy Grail okay? I think that I saw which suitcase Aryn threw that one in."

"Sounds great!" Sayu yelled back. "Thanks!"

L and Misa could do nothing more than stare wide-eyed at how much different Near was acting than earlier in the day. L absently wondered if Near had perhaps gotten drunk, but then dismissed that thought. Surely he would have noticed if the restaurant was selling wine to a fifteen-year-old. What was it then that was causing Near to act so different?

Misa gasped in fear and ducked as a suitcase flew out of one of the rooms and nearly hit her in the head. Near popped his head out to look at her.

"Please look through that suitcase for the DVD. The title we are looking for is Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

And Near disappeared again.

Misa yelped in pain as she reached out to try and look for the DVD, only to be met by an electric shock from some sort of barrier surrounding the suitcase. Near reappeared.

"Sorry about that. I forgot that Aryn always gets Matt to ward our suitcases. I suppose I'm the only one able to look through it," Near said, walking over and rifling through the suitcase. "I found it. Sayu, can you dim the lights please?"

"Sure!" Sayu chirped as she bounced over to the light-switch, fiddling with it for a few moments. "Then again, maybe not. Near! I think you crossed a few wires somewhere! The switch isn't working!"

Near sighed. "Fine. I've got it."

After about five minutes, in which Sayu was doing her best to help get the movie going, but ending up doing the exact opposite, the movie was finally ready to go. Near was sitting in the same egg-chair that he and Aryn had occupied earlier, L had uncurled and sat like a normal person for once (A Monty Python movie did not require advanced mental abilities, after all.) and Sayu and Misa had stolen the couch between them.

And then, just as the movie was about to start, Aryn, Light, Matt and Mello popped back into the room, looking battered. Near shot to his feet in worry. The scent of blood was heavy in the air, blood he knew.

"What happened?" Near asked frantically. "We've gone up against multiple races before and come away almost unharmed, so why was this time different?"

Light coughed. "Bastards used some sort of new bio-gas. Sucked all the Angel powers out of us."

Aryn swayed slightly, eyes unfocused. "We beat them back. Diplomatic meeting on Friday, but we got hurt. Sorry." And Aryn collapsed, barely getting caught by Near before she could hit the floor.

Near cradled her gently as he surveyed the scene before him. Matt and Mello were leaning on each other, looking about a second from collapsing in exhaustion, and Light looked rather charred. And then he too collapsed. Apparently the temporary (hopefully) removal of Angel power from their bodies was being rather hard on Light and Aryn.

"L, can you get Light? The...fourth room on the left down the hallway should be the recovery room, as long as Aryn set everything up here the same way her condo in New York was set up. Which she usually does when I make her the same schematic. It'll have everything that we need to take care of them. Nothing will be too hard to do, given that usually all of us end up getting hurt, and there's usually no one else to take care of us," Near said, carrying Aryn down the hall bridal-style.

"...There is something very profoundly wrong with that statement, but Misa isn't too sure what," Misa said after a moment of watching the procession of six go down the hall. Sayu shrugged.

"All of them are orphans, the only adults they really respect are my parents, but they can't really help them at all, so they've kind of gotten used to taking care of themselves. They'll be fine. Now," Sayu turned back to face the TV, "let's watch Monty Python!"

"Are you sure?" Misa asked, still gazing at the door behind which the other six disappeared. "Do you think we should help them?"

"They'll be fine," Sayu assured her. "Besides, we would only get in the way. Most of the things that heal an Angel or a Demon, which they are, are poison to a pure human, like us. L's half-Fairy apparently, in case you've forgotten what Matt did earlier. Nothing for us to do but wait. So might as well not be going out of our minds with worry, and watch the movie."

"Okay..." Misa conceded, turning to face the TV as well.

* * *

I was re-reading this chapter a while ago, and I realized something. Re-read the seventh paragraph, think about Mello's 'solution' to Takimura killing himself, in anime episode 27. He kidnapped Sayu. Now laugh your ass off at the turn-around.

Did the Court system make any sense to you people? I do kinda want to know, since I'm hoping to use it in a book one day, and need to know if it's too confusing.

On a side note, I had sixty different people viewing the last chapter, yet I only got four reviews. So, I really hate to be a review whore, but dang, you people are _not _making it easy. So, :puppy dog eyes: review, please?

...I might be persuaded to give out hints to what happens in the next chapter if people review. Since this is kind of a cliffy and all.


	14. Mello's Prank and L's Girlfriend

Disclaimer: We've been through this too many times. I don't frigging own Death Note. I am going to be a girl Mello for Halloween though! Just felt like announcing that.

* * *

**Chapter 14 - Mello's Prank and L's Girlfriend**

* * *

"L, get Light onto that table over there," Near commanded, sounding rather nasal. "Matt, Mello, grab one of the magic supplements in the fridge. I know they taste horrible, but you two probably need it."

Matt and Mello zombie-staggered over to the fridge, which was, for unknown reasons, sporting several daisies _growing_ out of the top, to retrieve a magical supplement each. L took a moment to admire how much a magical supplements resembled a cup of tea after L had gotten his hands on it.

...On second thought, L wasn't sure he wanted to know. So he turned his attention away from the duo at the fridge and towards the table that Near had indicated. Gently, he set Light on it, very afraid (not that he would ever admit it) for the second person to manage to grab L's interest.

"What exactly is wrong with them?" L asked.

Near shrugged. "I can't be sure. Light did mention a bio-gas sucking their powers out, but that's dubious. Light's not exactly the best when it comes to chemistry. It's somewhere close to what happens when we let anyone but Light try to cook. Things get blown sky-high. Or higher."

L looked at Near curiously. "Are you okay, Near? Your voice sounds strange."

Near sighed. "I'm half vampire, as I think I told you earlier. I haven't had a chance to feed in far too long, and Angel blood...is a drug for a vampire. So, essentially, I'm trying to avoid going blood-crazy and attacking Light and Aryn."

Matt whirled around, re-energized by fear. "Why the hell didn't you mention anything earlier? Near, you're an _idiot_! Fucking get _out_ of here and go hunt! Just remember, only from the pound. Okay?"

Near smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Matt. I trust you can take care of things here?"

Matt scoffed. "Of course. You _know_ that wolf demons heal quicker than anything else in existence. I'm pretty much fine already. Get out of here!" Matt made shooing motions with his hands. Near complied and vanished.

"The...pound?" L asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know, a sensation that he had not felt for many years before Light Yagami-Arget-Suino decided to temporarily kidnap him in order to watch pirated TV on a TV that could hack into secure government files.

Matt nodded. "The pound. Near tries to make sure that he doesn't feed from humans when he hasn't fed in a long time. The first time he feeds in a while, he tends to fully drain the thing. Animals are better for that, and then after he feeds a little, and isn't quite so blood-mad, he'll come back and feed from me or Mello. Probably me. Mello can't heal quite quick as I can unless it's something fatal." Matt seemed remarkably blase to be talking about his best friend incurring fatal wounds and the prospect of being vampire fodder.

"Something fatal?" L asked.

Mello snapped out of his daze to glare at Matt. "You dipshit! I _try_ not to think about that! It's not exactly a comfortable feeling, you know! And what about what we talked about in the restaurant?"

Matt scoffed, turning around to stare at Mello. "Then why have I caught you over-heating yourself far beyond what your body can take? Oh, and the thing we talked about at the restaurant? One word. _Subtlety_. Okay?"

Mello flushed slightly under L's surprised gaze. Mello was into self-harm? That was what it sounded like, at least. "I don't! At least not purposely! I have to practice being exact _somehow_, so I heat myself up to the border-line threshold of what I can take! Okay? Geez, I'm not into self-harm or anything. I can just feel how exact my tries are when I try on my own body, okay?"

Matt stared at him skeptically. "If you say so." And he dropped the subject, turning to examine Light and Aryn, who were still out cold, much to Mello's relief. Mello did not want to know how LIght or Aryn would react to his practice.

"They're completely dry," Matt reported as he scanned Light and Aryn. "Not a single drop of magic in them. It's like...they're completely human. Only not. I don't think anything like this as ever happened before. They're still mostly Angel by genetics, but their auras are gonna be human for a while. I just hope there are no side effects."

"Side effects?" L asked.

"Sometimes a swift change in the amount of magical energy in a body can lead to interesting reactions on the body. Something you've taken for granted all your life can be revealed to be the result of magic. Near, for instance, after a battle tends to have black hair and red eyes, just until he can grow his wings again so the pigment will bleed back into them. Mello shrinks a couple of inches and I'm blinder than a bat for a while," Matt explained shrugging.

"I see." And for once when dealing with this group of people, L really did.

"Thing is," Matt continued, frowning as he turned back to the comatose twins, "Light and Aryn have never gotten drained enough for anything to actually happen. They have freaky large reserves, more than most battles we have to control eat up, so I really have no clue what's gonna happen."

Mello grinned. "Should be interesting though!"

Matt glared at him. "You're being an asshole again, Mel. Stop it."

Mello pouted. "Fine, maybe I will."

"You do that!"

"Fine! I _will_!"

"Good!"

And, yet again, L was lost.

Light moaned and attempted to move his hand to cover his eyes. Instantly all attention was on him as he regained consciousness.

"Anyone get the number of the train that ran me over?" he asked sluggishly, before frowning. "Why does my mouth taste like sushi?"

Mello cracked up. "That's weird, Light! You run outta magic, and your mouth tastes like vinegar rice? What the hell man, just what the hell?"

Matt groaned. "Way to make the patient feel better, Mello. Seriously, can you _get_ any more ego-bruising?"

Mello arched an eyebrow at him. "Is that a challenge?"

"Hel-_lo_?" Light asked crossly. "Injured Angel over here!"

L sighed. It should probably worry him that the five most powerful beings on earth were... _this_, but L couldn't find the room to worry about that, not when he was worrying so much about what side-effects Light might end up experiencing.

Light frowned in annoyance. "Assholes," he muttered. "Leaving me alone when they know full well that I'm injured." He rolled his eyes. "Probably too involved in trying to avoid anyone finding out that they so totally have the hots for each other. L," Light turned puppy dog eyes on the detective. "you wouldn't mind helping me out of here, would you? I'm tired and want to go to sleep, and the beds here are really uncomfortable."

L frowned. "I'm not sure that I should, Light. You did just come in with scorch marks a few minutes ago."

Light shrugged, sitting up. "Yeah, but I'm fine now. Odd fact about Angels. They heal quickest when taking in large amounts of carbon dioxide in every breath. Rather like a plant actually, but I'd rather not think about me as being related to a green leafy thing that doesn't move very much. Though being related to a Venus fly trap would be rather awesome..." Light trailed off, eyes crossing slightly in contemplation, before jerking back top the present. "Did I mention that carbon dioxide has the side effect of making me go a little loopy? It's like pain meds, only better, cause it actually helps me heal, not just kill the pain. Anyways, I'm fine now, aside from having little to no magic, and should probably get out of here before I reach the second stage, which I've been told is quite frightening."

L stared. How had Light gotten all of that out in one breath?

Light stood up and began staggering for the door. "Damn," he cussed, "my inner ear is all fucked up." Aside from that statement, Light completely ignored his obvious handicap, continuing on towards the door.

L sighed internally. How exactly had his life changed so drastically in the space of less than forty-eight hours? Ignoring the part of him that was wailing that it wanted the world to stop being so confusing and _just make sense again_, L stood up and helped Light to keep his feet underneath him as he made his way to the door. Light shot L a grateful smile.

"Thanks," he said, leaning forward slightly, being careful _not_ to fall over, and kissed the side of L's mouth before he continued on to his room, collapsing on his bed, to the concern of the almost-foxes that had swarmed him earlier that day.

L stood still, shocked and with an odd feeling in his stomach. Suddenly, L really didn't mind the world not making sense anymore.

Then L snapped himself out of his daze and decided that it would probably be a good idea for him to get some sleep. He might not need a large amount of sleep normally, but when he managed to find a mental challenge, it was easy for him to wear himself down completely, simply from how hard he was thinking. And Sector L-5 and the knowledge of a new world was definitely a mental challenge sufficient to wear him out.

And so L walked out of the apartment that L-5 had rather effectively claimed as their own, intent on getting some sleep. As he left he heard Matt and Mello stop bickering, and start talking about whether Sayu and Misa would be staying in the apartment. From what L could hear, they were both in favor of that option.

* * *

Light woke up in the morning feeling rather... different. His magic was still at previously unknown low levels. That was part of it, but Light's problem was rather more... physical. Light took a cautious look at his body to make sure what he thought he felt was indeed there, and promptly screamed at the top of his lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The sound pierced the early morning quiet of the investigative headquarters, effectively killing it for the day. Aryn jumped out of bed, body operating on auto-pilot as she headed for the door while her mind struggled desperately to wake up. Something about that scream didn't sound quite right...  


* * *

Mello grinned at Matt sleepily, reveling in the success of a prank well-plotted and executed. He'd checked in on Light before heading to bed with Matt, once Aryn had woken up and staggered off to the room she shared with Near, and what he had seen was surprising to say the least. The humane thing to do would have been to wake Light up and inform him of the changes he was experiencing due to magic loss, but where was the fun in that? Mello wasn't shy about letting his sadistic streak come out to play every once in a while. And this was one instance where he had let it play.  


* * *

Matt just stared at the ceiling. Early morning sleep wake up hyperness had not kicked in yet, so he was slower than a slug. He did wonder what was wrong for someone to scream like that though.  


* * *

Sayu and Misa blinked fuzzily at the ceiling, not accustomed to waking up in a shorter period than thirty minutes. Then the fact that it was a scream that had woken them up reached Sayu, and she jumped out of bed, running for the door. Misa watched her go, even slower than Sayu when it was early morning. And then thought pierced the early morning, pre-coffee deadness of the brain, and made her realize that she was not accustomed to waking up to screams of terror, and she got moving too, albeit far slower than Sayu.  


* * *

Near blinked up at the ceiling, still too calm from the blood he had ingested the night before to really be willing to move. He did wonder why a person had decided to scream in the middle of the apartment though. More to the point, what random person had decided to scream in the middle of the apartment. Misa and Sayu didn't strike him as the sort who would yell like that, and Aryn had been in the room with him, so he knew it wasn't her.  


* * *

Aryn burst into Light's room, waving her pair of daggers wildly, not at all sure what was on the other side, but knowing that her brother was in trouble. What she saw made her stop in her tracks.

Light was standing in the middle of the room, staring in horror at the mirror-tinted window that Light insisted be part of his room. Only, it wasn't _his_ room anymore, per say.

Light's hair had grown about a foot over the course of the night, and darkened a bit to the point where it was now the color of dark chocolate. Light's eyes were a little bit lighter, more like cloudy amber than their usual honey. Those were rather minor changes compared to the thing that had shocked Light so much in the first place.

Light had become a girl at some point in the night. The loose shirt that Matt and Mello had changed him (her?) into the night before was now... not loose. Not loose at all. Aryn judged her... brother? (Sister? _Sisther?_ Aryn wasn't sure what would apply at the moment._)_ to be about a C-cup, which was totally unfair considering Aryn herself was naturally a girl, yet only a B-cup.

Aryn stared for a moment, not really sure what to make of this development. Sure, weird shit happened around them all the time, but really? A spontaneous gender change, or any form of gender change really, was so damn far away from everything that they knew how to deal with that Aryn's mind shut down for a moment. Then Light turned around and saw Aryn.

"Gyaah! What the fuck?" he/she screeched in shock. Aryn noticed that Light's voice had risen about an octave when his/her chest grew.

"What the hell? How the crap did you become a girl, Light?" Aryn screeched back, mind resuming slightly. Only slightly though.

"_Aryn_?" Light asked in shock, squinting slightly to get a better look at her twin. "You're all... dark-skinned and stuff."

"And you're a girl!" Aryn yelled back. At this point, Sayu and Misa, still in pre-coffee haze, burst into the room and stopped stock-still, squinting at the shocked twins.

"...who are you two?" Misa asked slowly, vision mildly blurred from sleep. Sayu managed to be mildly more awake.

"Aryn? Light? What happened to you two?" she asked, frowning in puzzlement as she blinked from the light-skinned girl to the dark-skinned girl.

"I think...that this is because we lost so much magic last night. We were more worn down than we have ever been before, in terms of magic at least, and we know that Matt, Mello and Near have weird things happen to them when they run out of magic. So maybe that's what happened to us?" Aryn speculated, pursing her lips as she stared at Light, her new twin sister.

"I don't really care about the why!" Light shrieked, mildly hysterical. "I care about how long this'll last! I want my body back! I don't like being a girl!"

Aryn glared at her. "You do know that the other people in this room could very well decided to take offense regarding that comment?"

Misa and Sayu decided it might for the betterment of their health to just leave the room at that point. Misa to go get coffee, and Sayu to shower.

Light squeaked. "I didn't mean it like that! My body feels different than this one! I don't know how to deal with this one!"

"Aaaaaahhhh," Aryn sighed in understanding. "Well, today is a Sunday, and the only thing we could possibly have done today was try to find a Rip to get us to the Shinigami realm, which we can really do any day. We can still do that, now I think about it, but I can spare an hour or so to teach you how to be a girl for however long."

Light nodded vigorously. "Thank-HEY! What right do you have to decide how I'm going to spend my Sunday?"

Aryn sighed, placing her hands on Light's shoulders. Light calmed down slightly, though still quite angry. "Light, listen to me. Do you really want to go tripping over your own feet for however long this lasts, just because your body decided to be bitchy and become a girl?"

Light sighed, deflating. "No, not really. I just... don't want to feel like this is permanent."

"It's not," Aryn assured him, thinking to herself, _At least I hope to Odin it's not. Light looks all weird as a girl_. Out loud, she continued her sentence. "But do you really want to look like a fool in front of your boyfriend?" Aryn finished her sentence with a wink. Silly boy-girl, thinking she could keep a secret from her twin.

"Of course-Wait, what? No-we're not-who-what-huh- Just what the _fuck_, Aryn?" Light sputtered in indignation, a faint blush that overlaid her cheeks betraying her true feelings.

Aryn scoffed. "Oh please. You were so obvious. Not to anyone, but then I'm not just anyone. I'm your _twin_. You _can't_ keep secrets from me. Don't worry, I won't tell. Just tell me one thing, will he hurt you like _she_ did?"

Light sighed, looking away from Aryn and out of the window. "I don't know," she mused. "I hope like hell he won't but... that's how I felt about her too. I just... We've been keeping a wall up around our hearts for too damn long. It's time for us to let go. You found your perfect match, so let me have this chance to find mine, okay?"

Aryn sighed, sitting down on the bed next to Light and grabbing her hand. "Okay. If you're sure you want to risk it. I'd known Near for a hell of a lot longer than you've known L when I stopped living in Egypt. I knew he wasn't going to hurt me. L? I don't know. I feel like you haven't known him long enough to be sure of it."

Light leaned against her sister, resting her head on Aryn's shoulder, watching the sun as it painted the sky red and gold. "I know but... With everything that's going on... Things are heating up. You know it as well as I do. You've felt it second hand, how frantic the Earth is. I don't know how much time we might have left, but I know that there's too much danger for us to keep on living the way we have been. Even Seraphim can die, 'Ryn. And I don't want to die without having lived _right_ this time around. There's no more time, and we have to live like fireworks for once. Flaring, bright and vibrant, but dying in an instant. Our flares are almost done, I fear, and I want to add just one more spark to mine."

Light was sobbing softly by the end, head buried into Aryn's shoulder. Aryn wrapped her arms around her twin, heart aching. Light had been through so much. In both of their lives, really. In their first life, Light was always the one who got called in front of the Court, the one feared more and injured worse. And the one who was braver, who would do _anything_ for the right person. The one who got her heart broken when her girlfriend of several centuries appeared on the other side of a battlefield, the one who lived stronger, brighter, more painfully.

Aryn was always a bit more cautious. She would be right by her brother's side in a battle, but was always a little more defensive. She was less sadistic when it came to interrogation, and slightly more healthy. Their names were equally feared, but Redzsaz always came second, was always the secondary objective. Balbdas was always the primary. Aryn was the one who made sure the duo, and later on Matt, Mello and Near, didn't incapacitate themselves, but Light was the one who held them together, the one who kept them sane.

And it was way too early in the morning to be thinking about things this heavy. Mornings were for light teasing, sarcastic half-insults that stung slightly, because mornings were the time the fivesome spent paying some form of attention to Wammy House, where Matt, Mello and Near had fun manipulating the teachers, making them think that the trio was worst enemies, and then laughing at the idiots as they walked off, muttering in exasperation. So of course, none of them could actually be nice to each other in the morning. So Aryn decided to lighten the mood.

"Well, in any case, it'd be horrible if you had to walk up to your boyfriend wearing clothes that fit you as badly as...that." Aryn gestured at the clothes Light was wearing, which were indeed rather ill-fitting and a little too long. "Soooo, you'll just have to wear some of mine!" And Aryn began to drag Light after her back to her room.

Light yelped. "No! Aryn, your idea of clothes is either training clothes or tank tops a size too small and tight jeans! And all of your clothes would be even more too small for me! I'd look like a whore! I'm not going to go out looking like a whore!"

Aryn grinned back at Light, and suddenly Light was struck again by how much her sister could resemble a shark. "That's the idea. The boys can look, but pity the poor bastard who tries to touch. And then later, you get your boy off to the side and have your way with him. He'll do what you want. He'll have spent all day, watching you in those tight jeans and that too-small tank top."

"Eww! Aryn, I don't need advice on my sex life from my _sister_!" Light yelled in embarrassment, blushing fiercely.

Aryn shook her head in mock-sympathy. "Poor, poor Light. So innocent. Now scoot!" Aryn pushed the resisting boy-made-girl into her room, where Near looked at them sleepily.

"Aryn?" he asked. "Why is there a random girl in our room?"

Aryn sighed. "That'd be Light."

And suddenly, Near wasn't quite so sleepy. "Light? What do you mean? Last time I checked, Light was most definitely male."

Light frowned in confusion. "You mean to tell me you've checked as to whether I was a guy or not?" she asked dangerously.

Near yeeped. "Umm...Congratulations, you successfully made the next in line for the position of L speechless. Your prize is a bag of dill pickle-flavored chips, to be redeemed at your convenience. At the moment, however, I must run." And Near did. He ran out of the room so quickly he left a little dust imp behind him.

Aryn glared at the dust imp. "Shoo!" she ordered. The dust imp shoo'ed and Aryn got cracking, finding an outfit for Light to wear to make L's eyes bug out of their sockets.

* * *

Yes, Near yeeped. Light is _dangerous_ when she's pissed.

And yes, I did make Light become a girl for a while. Simply because of one line that I came up with in the next chapter. I luff the line to bits, and had to think of a way to include it.

Aryn's wardrobe is kinda based off my own. I don't like shopping that, so almost all my clothes tend to last a _little_ longer than they should, really, and end up WAY too tight before I get around to replacing them. I think my current favorite jacket is one I got in... 2005? More than three years ago, at least.

Dill pickle flavor chips are actually surprisingly good.

And yeah, the war's kinda heating up. The other Courts just found out that there's actually _government_ in Earth. They're redoubling their efforts to eliminate the deserters, before they become an actual danger.

And now for a little omake I wrote. The situation is mentioned in either 19 or 20, but I couldn't find a way to _actually_ write it into a story. So I wrote an omake! It occurs about two and a half years after the twins fourteenth birthday.

**Omake:**

Thud. The man crumpled to the floor as his eyes rolled up into his head.

Matt stared at Near in astonishment. "Did you just... knock a dude out with a _showerhead_?"

Near nodded serenely, twirling a lock of hair around one finger, oblivious to the stares of L-5. "Yes, I believe I did."

Mello shook his head slowly. "Sometimes I really wonder about you Near. you're crazier than _me_ sometimes."

"Out of curiousity, where'd you get a showerhead, Near? Aren't they supposed to be, I dunno, attached to showers or something?" Matt asked sarcastically.

Near shrugged. "I would suggest that Matt not loo too closely in his bathroom the next time he is at Wammy's."

"Y-b-wha-huh-why-how-" Matt was momentarily left speechless. "You pulled my showerhead out of the wall, _to brain a man?_"

Near nodded. "Yes. I'm glad Matt has such a good grasp of the situation."

Matt snarled in anger and lunged for Near, but Mello held him back.

Afterwards, Aryn had a little talk with Near about using the right weapons for a job, and how showerheads were most definitely _not_ the right weapons for any job.


	15. Near's Stoned and Matt's Surprise

Soo... I just spent yesterday (as the last day of school before Halloween) freaking people out. I was dressed as a girl version of Mello, including the scar, so I got a lot of 'What the hell happened to your _face?'_s. Way too much fun to be legal. But I'm still kinda high from creeping people out. (And yes, it was a girl version of mello. I couldn't figure out a way to bind my chest so I could be a male Mello.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Death note, never will, yadda yadda yadda... Umm... I do own Aryn, the Tamas, and the Hallway of Darkness. Oh, and the pumpkin-apple-pudding muffins. htose did exist once, about two years ago now. So, that's a true story from my Home Ec class.  


* * *

**Chapter 15 - Near's Stoned and Matt's Surprise**

* * *

L sighed, staring at the door to the apartment. He'd been staring at it for almost five minutes, trying to decide if he wanted to go in. Such indecisiveness was very unlike him, but L wasn't feeling like himself at the moment. What if it had all been just a dream? that was the reason he'd all but stopped sleeping in the first place, his dreams were so vivid he had difficulty telling them from reality. And L wasn't sure he wanted to be let down by the knowledge that the last few days had been a dream. So many things had happened, nearly all of them good. L didn't want that to evaporate.

So L wasn't sure he wanted to open the door and see the plain, sparsely furnished apartment that had been built into the building, instead of seeing the ornately decorated suite it had been turned into by L-5.

Well, he wasn't going to get anything done by staring at a blank door. So L took a deep breath and turned the handle, opening the door into...

The exact same apartment he had left last night after helping Light get into bed. L's heart leapt with joy, not that he really showed it.

Near looked over to L from where he was staring at the ceiling listlessly. "Good morning, L." And then he went back to staring at the ceiling.

L cocked his head to the side, staring at Near. "...Are you okay?"

Sayu peeked out from the kitchen. "Near? Yeah, he's fine. He just fed well last night, plus it's too early."

"What?" L asked, startled.

"Near doesn't wake up until noon, Japan right after he's fed. Unfortunately for him, there were... extenuating circumstances this morning." Sayu explained. Misa's head appeared beside her, still morning-fuzzy.

"Morning, Hideki-san." Misa said, before turning to Sayu. "Sayu-chan, are there any caffeinated coffee grounds in the building? I'm a junkie and need my caffeine fix." Misa was whining by the end. L had never seen this side to the model before. He wondered what her fans would think of her now, sleep-fuzzy and begging a girl five years her junior for coffee.

"Extenuating circumstances?" L had to ask, against his better instincts. So far, it seemed that, with this group of people, 'extenuating circumstances' would be very extenuating, and rather dangerous.

Sayu shrugged. "Don't worry. If I know Aryn, she'll make sure that you _liiike_ the extenuating circumstances." The girl grinned pervertedly at L, turning around and walking back into the kitchen with a sway in her hips. L stared after her, confused. Was everyone in this building smoking something, to make them act so much different than the way he saw them acting normally?

And then, somewhere down the impossibly long hallway that seemed to be bathed in darkness this morning, a door slammed open. Aryn strolled casually out of the darkness, whistling. It made for a rather Wonderland-esque effect, like Aryn had at some point during the night become the Cheshire cat. The effect was only heightened by the fact that at some point in the night, her skin color had darkened to a deep brown that reminded L of dark chocolate. L wondered if this was part of the extenuating circumstances.

Aryn stopped to look at L. "She's right. You should like the extenuating circumstances." She smiled enigmatically, then continued her nonchalant stroll across the living room to stare down at Near. "Poor baby," she cooed, "stoned off his ass on blood. Does he want some Angel to kick-start his day?"

Near rolled his head slowly to look at her. "No. Angel blood slows me down more, not speed me up."

Aryn grinned and shook her head, leaning down to stare into Near's eyes. "Whoever said anything about _blood_?" she cooed, smirking wickedly. "Not me. I just mentioned you having some Angel. And I can think of several ways for you to have Angel without you drinking blood. Say, saliva?" And Aryn leaned down to kiss Near deeply. Sure enough, that act seemed to have an effect in waking Near up.

L sighed. Such displays of affection were really rather tiresome to him. And mildly disturbing, L amended mentally as Aryn's wings reappeared with a ripping sound, folding over to safely ensconce the two in their own little world.

A pounding noise came from within the darkened hallway, and Matt and Mello came racing out of it into the kitchen, Matt chanting "Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, _COFFEEE_!" L stared after the duo in stupefaction. It would appear that even early in the morning, Sector L-5 was never quite normal.

Then someone cleared their throat over next to the Hallway of Darkness, as L had labeled it in his mind. L turned around, fully expecting to see Light, given that every other occupant of the apartment had been accounted for, and was not disappointed.

Light stood there, leaning back against the door frame, just inside the haze of darkness. But something about Light's frame seemed...off. Unless one of the side effects Matt had mentioned last night included spontaneous shrinkage of the spine and growth of hair length, Light had engaged in some rather extensive plastic surgery or something to that effect over the past six hours or so.

Then Light stepped into the light, and L's breath caught in his throat, and he felt his heart skip a beat or two in disbelief.

"Light?" L asked carefully, hoping to keep his voice under control. He had never actually _liked_ someone before, but he was fully able to appreciate their bodies. L had long ago come to the conclusion that he was bi. And if this was Light... then L was liking what he saw.

The girl in front of him ducked her head slightly, looking at L through the fringe of her bangs uncertainly. "Yes," she said softly, looking at L calculatingly, as if she was trying to ascertain what L's reaction would be.

L frowned. "I'm fairly sure that you weren't a girl yesterday, Light. What happened?"

Visible relief appeared in Light's eyes as she shrugged. "As far as I can tell, spontaneous gender realignment. May I just say that it is rather uncomfortable to wake up as a girl, when you _know_ that you went to sleep as a guy?"

L laughed slightly, having decided over the night that if Light and he needed to know each other completely for Light to be able to tell what happened to him that was keeping his wings hidden, then L was going to remove his emotionless mask. Only for L-5 though. And, judging by the familiarity Sayu held with the apartment and the fact that Misa was allowed to sleep there, L rather thought that L-5 would find themselves up three members. "I would rather imagine it would be, Light."

"I wonder what the chances of spontaneous gender realignment really _are_?" Light mused as they headed to the kitchen, Light leaning slightly on L with an arm wrapped around his shoulders. L assumed that Light either wanted the others to know of their relationship, or had an excuse ready if any of the others wanted an explanation.

"Obviously not zero, despite what modern scientists believe." L pointed out, wrapping an arm around Light's waist, running his hand up and down her spine slightly to prove his point.

Light stopped and turned to look deep into L's eyes. "L, does it bother you that I'm a girl for who knows how long?"

"Not really," L mused. "I figured out long ago that, while I didn't care for the majority of the population's minds, their bodies could be quite attractive. I found that I was able to appreciate the forms of both genders."

Light laughed while leaning forward to hug L tightly. "That has to be the most roundabout way to say that you're bi that I've ever heard."

"By the way," L changed the subject, "would it be reasonable to assume that this is the 'extenuating circumstances' that made it possible for Near to move even though he was far too stoned, or whatever you call it, to wake up?"

Light laughed sheepishly at L's question as they finally reached the kitchen, where there were many people who could not cook, and were therefore staring in melancholy at the fully-stocked cabinets. L wondered when they had had time to fill up the kitchen. "I think so. Aryn... can be quite forceful when she wants to be, and it is rather overwhelming first thing in the morning. So," Light addressed the group at large, "who wants what?"

Matt shrugged. "S'long's I have my coffee, I'm fine with nearly anything. Just no marshmallows. You know I hate marshmallows." Suddenly, the fact that Light's voice sounded different from normal penetrated his brain and he looked at Light, only to choke on absolutely nothing. "Holy shit!" he yelped. "Light, you have _boobs_!"

Light huffed, crossing her arms just under her overly generous bosom. "Yeah. So kind of you to notice. Side effect of losing all my magic last night, I think. And thank you so much for warning me that I might become a girl. I so want to feed you marshmallows for that."

Matt cringed. "Anything but that! I'm sorry! I didn't know! You know I hate marshmallows!"

"Yeah, that's never made any sense to me," Sayu replied, ignoring the early morning drama. She had had neither sugar nor coffee, therefore she didn't care about drama. "What happened again? Oh, and I'd like Belgian waffles with strawberries on top, pretty please with an L on top, Light!"

Light choked. "With a _what_ on top?"

"With an L on top," Sayu said, matter-of-factly, before laughing at L and Lght's dumbfounded expressions. "Please, you boys think you're so good at acting, but you can't fool a girl when it comes to the heart. You're just so obvious! Now Matt, the explanation please?"

"Okay, okay," Matt laughed, launching into a thrilling tale involving killer pandas with red eyes, jam and marshmallows.

Everyone else ignored him.

"Anything with chocolate in it, Light." Mello said absently, staring at L with burning cold eyes. L felt mildly uncomfortable, and had to wonder if perhaps Mello had a crush on Light. It would explain the glare he was getting now.

"What can Light make?" Misa asked curiously, it being her first time visiting the L-5 household at breakfast time, when the four who lived in English speaking countries reveled in getting food that they liked, that was home-cooked! When it was Aryn alone, she ended up going for large amounts of eating out and microwaveable dinners. Mello, Matt and Near were really damn grateful that they had cooks at Wammy's, and Light was the only one who could cook.

"Oh god," Light said, looking up at the ceiling as she tried to remember everything. "Umm... Well, I'm a damn good cook, and the only one out of us who can. I am fluent in Japanese and American food, Belgium waffles, French or Swedish crepes and pancakes are always good. I make a mean chicken curry, and can whip up a venison chili. I can make and decorate a cake pretty well if I do say so myself, and most desserts are no problem. Indian, French, Spanish, Mexican, Russian, Norwegian... Damn near anything. Including Faerie, Demon and Angel cuisine,"

"And trust me when I say that Light could open a five-star restaurant!" Aryn chimed in as she and Near walked into the kitchen. "Can I get some pumpkin-apple pudding muffins, Light?"

Misa was all but drooling at the end, and L was stunned. He had no idea that Light could cook so well.

Light glared playfully at Aryn. "One time! And then only because of Mello getting too near me when I was mixing everything! And you never let it go!"

"But they were good!" Aryn protested, "Even if they _were_ a 'disgrace to the good name of muffins' and looked like someone had taken a hose to shit." Aryn rolled her eyes at Light, before turning to L. "One time Light tried to make some pumpkin-apple muffins, cause I'd gotten some big pumpkins from out in the country. This was before we discovered that if anyone of us but Light tries to cook, things go wrong. Oh so very, terribly wrong. So, Mello tries to help Light out, Light ends up shooing him out of the kitchen, but Mello did something to the batter. What were supposed to pumpkin-apple muffins ended up coming out of the oven as pudding, pretty much. Tasted exactly like they should have, only soupy and goopy. And, they looked rather disgusting."

"I see," L said, before turning to Light. "Light, did you mention something about cakes?"

Light rolled her eyes affectionately. "Yes I did, you sugarholic. But no, I'm not going to make you any. The reason you had to eat so much sugar to keep yourself functioning is that Faerie bodies process food much faster than a human's body does, and gets far less energy out of it, unless the food includes extra nutrients that can only be found on Faerie. It's just your luck that we happen to know how to grow those nutrients here on Earth. So, I'll just whip you up a Faerie breakfast, kay?"

L nodded, willing to try food from what was, apparently, his native land. Light smiled in satisfaction and spun around.

"Now, all of you. Out of the kitchen! Your destructive presences will kill all of the food! Shoo!" And Light shooed all of them out of the kitchen, Misa, Sayu and Matt heavily protesting the loss of their coffee. "Hush. You'll get your coffee later," Light admonished, and L was amazed at how much Light could look like both an exasperated mother with her children whining at her, and like a teen ready to go clubbing.

Light was a person of opposites. She could take two completely different things, things that should be polar opposites and mutually exclusive, and mold them together and make them _fit_. It was a talent L rather envied, because he knew that Light is one of very few humans to ever have had that talent, and for all that Aryn had said that L had managed to work his way into Light's heart, L still felt like he had only a tenuous hold there, and he needed to have Light.

It was rather worrying, how quickly Light Yagami-Arget-Suino had become such a facet of L's life. Only four months, three of which he was not looking at Light, not the Light he saw before him, bubbly and happy and easily distracted with friends at her intellectual level and bearing scars from wars with creatures that L had never dreamt of. A few days into his incarceration, Light had changed. Something had left him, run away, abandoned him, and Light had become _this_ Light, the Light that L lo-_liked_. Softer, less calculating, freer, more tied down, contrasts upon contrasts upon contrasts, and Light Yagami-Arget-Suino was the only thing holding them together.

Light smiled at L, who was the only left alone in the evacuation of the kitchen. "Are you any good in the kitchen? There are a few more people for me to cook for than there usually are, and help would be appreciated."

L nodded. "I have, on occasion, aided Watari in the kitchen, making cakes and other sugary confections. And they usually did not turn out as complete disasters. Although, the first time I helped Watari bake... Suffice to say, the Hilton no longer allows either Watari or me onto their premises."

Light pursed her lips, humming a little as she thought. "I...suppose that's enough. Just know that, as long as you have one of us five to take care of you, you will _not_ be eating as much sugar as you have been. We'll make sure you eat foods that will actually fill your nutritional requirements. And, because I have to ask, what the hell did you do to the Hilton for you, a multi-billionaire, to be forbidden from it?"

"The kitchen was rather large and black and silver. When Watari and I left it, it was fully white with flour," L admitted with a faint blush staining his cheeks. That was not one of his proudest moments.

Light laughed and was off, spinning like a dervish through the kitchen, grabbing this and that from the cabinets and oh, that over there, and the oven does need to be pre-heating, could you take care of that, L, while I start chopping up some bananas? L wasn't even sure where the oven had come from, given that the apartment was not equipped with one to begin with, but was quickly learning that certain impossibilities were not to be questioned in the presence of certain people. L was also having trouble concentrating on the task in front of him, something that he was unaccustomed to, but thought he had a good reason for at the moment. Light looked _really_ good in those short shorts she had (presumably) borrowed from Aryn.

Light laughed again, as if she knew what L was thinking, as she spun around, cracking an egg into this bowl and whisking it, turning that burner on over there, and shredding apple into this muffin pan over here.

Once everything was cooking well, Light and L settled down to talk a bit about their pasts, L telling about some of his more notable cases, and Light talking about her earlier life in the Suino clan, before the chameleon demons came and murdered them. Both of them were so engrossed in their discussion that they ceased paying attention to the food. Light was just in the middle of telling L about a mass prank that one of her cousins pulled on the entirety of the clan when the odor of burning eggs reached her nose.

"So, Chris ended up having to do the laundry for the ENTIRE clan for a month as punishment. Trust me when I say the laundry pile of more than one hundred people is something to be feared. And oh crap, the eggs are burning!" Light yelled.

"Light, can the Tamas you were using on me last night work on breakfast?" L asked suddenly, remembering the way the small balls of light had been able to tailor the clothes to fit his slimmer frame.

Light paused for a moment. "...why the hell didn't I think of that?" she asked. L shrugged.

"Possibly because you are so used to magic, that it does not occur to you to use it for some of the simpler things, or uses that the specific application of magic had not been designed to do."

"..." Light stared at him for a moment, before grinning and hugging L tightly. L was very grateful for his years of hiding his emotions, without which he was sure he would have gotten a nosebleed. "Thank you!" And then she let go of him and whirled around on one foot, hair spinning wildly around her. Several small balls of light shot out of her skin at break-neck speeds, each taking on one person's food. Light smiled at L as she came to a halt. "There we go. Now they'll take care of that, and we can go do something else."

L gulped. Light's eyes had acquired a dangerously predatory gleam to them at the last few words and she was staring out of the windows towards the fully visible pine forest. (How did they manage to have such large windows, in the morning, and yet it was still so dark in the apartment? It was probably one of those things L didn't want to ask about.) L did _not_ want to be the creature on the other side of that gaze. That glare promised large amounts of pain and bloodshed. Perhaps Light was planning on going after Kira. It was fully certain that, if Light was supposed to be the ruler of the non-human community of the earth, then Kira fell under her jurisdiction. And L was nearly certain that the Light L knew now had been possessed by whatever it was that was Kira for the first three months that L had known Light. L assumed it had to do with the newest Realm that Light had mentioned the other day.

And then Light snapped back to the present place and time. "The Tamas, since they are connected to me, can Flash to wherever I may happen to be with no problem, bringing our food with them. So, we can feasibly go anywhere we want to. Today, for example, I do believe that it would be a good day for us to go after the creature behind Kira."

Ah, so L was right, and it _was_ Kira inciting this primal hunger in Light's eyes. L was very glad that he and Light were no longer on opposite sides, for reasons that had nothing to do with the fact that L was a mild adrenaline junkie, and Light's eyes were giving him quite a thrill at the moment.

Light spun around to yell at the mildly mentally dead people in the living room as she strode confidently into said living room. "Oi! Lazy layabouts! We're going to be going meddler hunting today, but there are a few things that have to be done first! The Tamas are making us food, so we can go wherever we want to. Misa, Matt and Sayu, your coffee is ready and will be carried out shortly by two Tamas. But first, can I please talk to Misa in private? I'm also going to need Mello to help me with what needs to be done."

Everyone blinked blearily at her. Except for Mello, who was lazily chewing on a bar of chocolate as he amused himself by watching Near, who appeared rather playful after drinking blood and rising out of the subsequent low, and Aryn doodle on Matt's spare goggles. Which were now hot pink.

"What do you want with me, Light...chan?" Misa asked hesitantly.

Light twitched. "Please, I _am_ English speaking by birth. Don't use honorifics, they make me twitchy. And What I want with you? Well, you aren't quite fully in possession of your memories, thanks to the things we are going to be hunting today. I am going to restore them, but they won't be quite pure. So, I'm going to have Mello lend me some of his fire to burn away the taint on the memories. Otherwise, you'd return to what you had been before, which was basically being possessed. I feel I should warn you... the memories won't be pleasant. You will probably be quite disgusted by what you did while being controlled, but we can help you. Aryn and I were generals in a war, you think we don't know about regret and bad decisions?"

Misa looked confused. "Are...I don't know what you are talking about, Light."

Light thwacked her forehead. "Crap! Sorry. I work ahead in my head most of the time, sometimes my tongue does too. Anyway, you'll be getting some memories back, they won't be pleasant, and no, you don't really have a choice. I think that's it for the briefing. Now, Mello, Misa, follow me!" Light ordered regally, sweeping imperiously past L and into the Hallway of Darkness. Mello and Misa followed her hesitantly.

L was rapidly putting together the pieces in his head. Misa had apparently lost some memories that weren't all that pleasant, to something they were hunting today. The memories would have some sort of a taint to them, one that would make her be possessed. The way Light's eyes and tone had hardened as she spoke about hunting. Speaking from experience about the memories not being pleasant, and preemptively offering what sounded to L a lot like counseling sessions. And something L had told no one. About six days into Light's confinement, Light had suddenly had a screaming fit n the middle of the night. That had been the same day that the Light L had known disappeared, and this Light, the one who apparently could make no big deal out of being turned into a girl, had appeared. It all added up to one conclusion, the same one that L had been following all this time.

Light was Kira, though apparently not by choice, much as L had hoped, and Misa was the Second Kira, though apparently also forced. L was _extremely_ nervous about going after what would presumably be a Shinigami. L might have thought he knew how Kira killed, but as he had been rapidly learning over the past few days, he really knew nearly nothing.

And then everyone jerked in shock as the sound of a pained female scream came from out of the Hallway of Darkness, followed by the sound of retching and crashing and banging. Mello came walking out of the Hallway, looking slightly green as he collapsed in an egg-chair next to Matt.

"I knew that damned Shinigami's notebook was sick, but to do that to an innocent girl..." Mello sighed and shook his head. "I'm questioning our decision not to go after near genocide. I agree that at least the Shinigamis in charge of the Death Notes holding the murderers should atone, but the rest..." Mello paused before looking directly at Aryn, who was the one who had been most vocal about not L-5 not ending up responsible for the death of an entire race. "No. They don't deserve it. The second one never fully left Misa's head. Light had to pull the shadow it left out of her head so I could physically torch it. That was the scream you heard. She was basically pulling the mental-magical equivalent of a tapeworm out of Misa's head, while at the same time restoring about two month's worth of missing memories. And there isn't a pain-killer in existence for that kind of pain. Odin only knows how Light managed to get rid of the one in her own mind, alone. Light's in there comforting Misa now. Learning that you did that kind of thing..." Mello sighed again and stared at the ceiling. "It can't be easy. The Shinigami are going down."

"Yes," Light said, striding out of the darkness unhappily. "Yes, they are." Light looked at her adopted sister. "Misa's asking for you. Apparently I can't comfort a girl properly since I'm not a girl by birth, and Aryn's too accustomed to things like what Misa found out to be properly sympathetic. Can we leave you two here while we go out?" Sayu nodded vigorously before running into the Hallway of Darkness. Light turned to the rest of the group, eyes glittering with dangerous promise. "Now, who's ready to go hunting for the being responsible for Kira?"

Everyone stood up with no comment. Words could not seem to describe the group's common disgust for Kira, nor how much the scream of pure and utter agony that echoed through the building just a minute ago had affected them. Words weren't needed.

Light grabbed L into a tight hug, conveying all of her feelings for L, just in case. Everyone else grabbed one of Light's shoulders, and then the group was no longer in the apartment. They were standing in one of the many clearings in the forest that Light had been glaring at with such venom earlier.

Light knelt in front of a small mound of earth, upturned about a month ago, L judged from the amount of plant matter that had begun growing on it, and dug. The others stood solemnly in a circle around her.

After about half a minute's worth of digging, Light stood up, holding a black notebook in her hands. L could see the words 'Death Note' written on its cover. She solemnly handed it to Aryn. Neither held any emotion on their face, nor did Near when Aryn passed it on to him. To Matt, to Mello, and then Mello handed it to L. L hid his surprise at being included in something that was obviously important to the others and accepted the notebook.

L nearly gasped as he felt a slight probe upon his mind. It felt a bit like what he had felt last night with Light, but no where near as benign. This felt... evil, sick, twisted, disgusting.

Then a flash from above caught his eyes. He automatically turned his face upwards to look at the source, conscious of the fact that the other five people around him did the same.

A grotesque, black-clad figure was flying down out of a rip in the sky. Disproportionate limbs, a starved figure, an impossible smile, bulging eyes, with every second the creature was flying closer and L could see more details. Purple lips, a pig's snout nose, impossibly pale skin, stitches that seemed to be for more than show around it's collarbone, pointed teeth, a distorted skull.... L felt sick just looking at the figure before him.

Beside him, L heard Light hiss in pleasure as the figure alighted on the ground before them, crouching like and ape before standing up straight, eight feet or more in height, and looking at the circle in front of it in seeming confusion.

"What?" it asked in a distinctly male voice. L started. It could talk? "None of you are Misa. So, what happened? Something Lighto forget ta tell me about his plan?"

L frowned slightly. Was this creature saying... It was a willing accomplice to Kira? That would make sense, that this creature before him was what a Shinigami would look like. And Kira _had_ mentioned Shinigami fairly early on in the case. (L refused to think Light there. Not when the real Light was so different from the Light he knew had been Kira.)

Light stepped forward, from the center of the circle to the fore of it, right in front of the creature. L relaxed slightly as he felt her hand brush his in a gesture of comfort. If Light didn't view this thing as a threat, then neither would he.

"Hello, Ryuuk," Light purred softly, shaking her long bangs out of her eyes as she stared dangerously at the disgusting creature before her, arms crossed just beneath her ample bosom. "I assure you, there was nothing that _Kira_ forgot to tell you about his plan. There were just a few details about _Light Yagami_ that Kira didn't know."

* * *

So... would you people call this a cliffie? I dunno. Your choice, just know you'll have a week to decide, like always.

Yes, Light is an awesome cook. For other reason than that I wanted her to be.

And yes, Ryuuk's going to be creeped the hell out for the next couple of chapters.


	16. Light's Shinigami and Aryn's Anger

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except Aryn. And the Court system. And the name Linked-5. And my numerous ideas for a sequel. And everyone's severely different from canon personality. ...Aw hell. Let's just say I don't own Death Note, and don't yet have a copyright on the rest, but I _will_ be hunting down your ass if you steal any of the rest from me.

* * *

**Chapter 16 - Light's Shinigami and Aryn's Anger**

* * *

Ryuuk stared at Light in astonished confusion. She felt herself shiver in disgust. The gaze of this disgusting creature that survived by living parasitically on borrowed time made her feel dirty, as if she were back on a battlefield, covered in blood and guts and god knows what other bodily fluids, and liking it. Light saw the blood-thirsty creature she used to be in the Shinigami's gaze, and she hated who she used to be.

"Lighto?" Ryuuk croaked. Light was astonished anew at how expressive an almost immobile mask of a face could be. "Yer...a girl? What happened while I was gone?" Now Ryuuk began to pout. "Ya always do the most interestin' stuff when I'm gone! Not fair!"

Light strode forward, making no effort to hide her disgust as she stared down the Shinigami before her. She was suddenly glad for the cape she had dug up out of Aryn's closet. The fabric brushing her back gently with every step reminded her of her wings, which had always been a source of confidence to Light.

"You, Ryuuk, Shinigami, disgust me. You are also responsible for the possession of a member of the Court, to which non-humans must defer to when they visit Earth. You are further responsible for the death of millions of humans, something which goes against every rule of the Court. Thanks to your foolish actions, hundreds of my subjects have had to go into hiding. Have died. You are under arrest, Ryuuk the Shinigami." Light snapped her fingers, and was glad that Shinigami had a very small amount of magic in their bodies, and most of that was focused on their eyes, otherwise it would have been simple for Ryuuk to burst his way free from the soul-binding restraints she placed on him, weakened as she was.

Ryuuk began to either protest or ask a question. Light didn't care which. Either way she had no desire to listen to his grating voice at the moment, and subsequently gagged him with a thread of power.

Light turned on her heel and looked at the others. "What do you think? Should we bring him back to the apartment, solidify him, and let him have it now? Or do we wait until after Friday's meeting and storming the Shinigami realm?" She vaguely felt Ryuuk's struggle to escape increase.

L shrugged, not yet aware of the fact that, with Light having chosen him, he now held a position equal to her in the Court. Aryn grinned ferally, and Light needed no mental connection to her twin to know what she was thinking. Indentured servant was to be the fate of this murderer in Aryn's eyes.

Light could see the agreement in Near's eyes. It made sense, considering how rarely a consort and a Lord came into conflict over a decision like this. Matt and Mello had different suggestions.

"Maybe make him suffer? Gasoline in his cuts, Mello's venom in his eyes?" Matt suggested. "You know, the usual stuff." Mello's eyes flared in anticipation of a torture session. Light sighed inwardly. Honestly, those two were sadistic to the point where she was slightly afraid that when they _did_ get together, she was going to start finding blood in random places around the apartment. Then again, Light knew she hadn't quite forced all the sadism the Angels had forced into her body out either.

And then she saw L stiffen. Oh crap, Light hadn't told him about the fact that, occasionally, it was necessary to make an example of one who crossed one too many important rules. A bloody, mutilated example. That would have to come soon. For the moment, she would have to settle for going to L and guiding his hands to wrap around her waist so she could lean back into his embrace. She saw Ryuuk twitch slightly.

"No, I don't think so," Light sighed, gazing at Ryuuk hungrily. "All the questions that the Death Note had asked him were neatly side-stepped. I think that it's time we learned exactly what the Shinigami do. Somehow, I don't think it's nearly as simple as feeding off of human life essence."

Near nodded solemnly. "It should be impossible for a race that lives like that, writing names down for food, to evolve. Humans didn't even have names for the longest time, and there weren't even any humans around for any longer. So one does wonder, how did Shinigami come into existence? Where did they get a book like the Death Note, one imbued with its own personality? Admittedly our own existence doesn't make much sense, but our ancestors grew up in the right circumstances for us to evolve to where we are. That begs the question: What circumstances produce a creature like the Shinigami?"

"We won't be finding any answers to such questions if we stand around talking in the middle of a forest, just waiting for a human to come along and find us. Perhaps we should return to a more enclosed space?" L suggested quietly, having already gotten used to adapting to whatever new piece of information was revealed about Light, Aryn, Matt, Mello and Near.

Light shrugged, happy at the shudder that such a motion caused in L. "L's right. Someone else is going to have to Flash us though. All of my energy was either sapped by the earlier Flash, or is being used to hold Ryuuk captive. Now that I think about it," Light bent down to the ground, picking the Death note that had been dropped by L at the sight of Ryuuk. She held it out in front of her between two fingers, staring at it in distaste. "this is _not_ something we want to chance leaving lying around. It'll have to come with us."

Matt nodded decisively. "Near would have the most power, having not fought last night like the rest of us."

Near sighed. It was more difficult for him to Flash, because he had a strong connection to the earth around him. Often when he appeared to zone out, staring at nothing, he was really listening to the earth. It _hurt_ to have that sort of connection ripped away from him, then violently returned. But he supposed he could do it, for the sake of his friends. "Very well. How will we touch the Shinigami? From what I recall of your memories, Light, Shinigami have the ability to phase through solid objects."

Light shrugged, smirking at Near. Her smirk was vindictive but joyous, speaking as loudly as the words out of Light's mouth. "Well, Ryuuk over there sure seems to be taking up space. And he's caught by my bonds, meaning he isn't actually just a vision. More like, he has the ability to control the atoms of his body, make them diffuse so that other items will pass through him. Surely for someone who can manipulate atoms like you can, it'd be a simple matter to firm him up, so to speak."  
_  
Ha, obvious! How did you miss that?_ Despite the close friendship between the five, they still enjoyed upstaging one another, a habit brought on by the intense rivalry Wammy's brought on. Matt, Mello and Near already had their rivalry/friendship firmly established when they met Light and Aryn, and that spirit of friendly competition had transferred on over to Light and Aryn.

Near sighed. How had he missed that. "Very well, but then I won't be able to Flash us. You know how hard it is for me to Flash, and if I have anything less than full power to use on it, I won't be able to flash this large of a group."

Aryn sighed, stepping forward. Her skin had, during the instantaneous journey to the forest, regained its normal color, most likely due to her soaking up some of the magic inherent in the side-step they had long-ago dubbed Flashing. Light had never quite managed it, however.

"I'll do it," she sighed crossly. "Near, if you'll please firm up the Shinigami? Everyone gather in a close circle around him? It? _Shim_? How does one tell?"

Light sighed. "I'm not really sure, but I do know that Ryuuk thinks of himself as male. Just go along with it."

Aryn shrugged. "Okay." And she flashed everyone back to the apartment.

Misa and Sayu, who had been sitting on the couch, with Sayu gently running her fingers through Misa's hair to keep her calm, shrieked simultaneously and fell off the couch. Mello burst out laughing.

"Aw man, that sorta reaction never gets old!"

Sayu glared at him and slapped him across the face.

"What the hell?" Mello asked, staggering backwards. He had never run afoul of the peculiar phenomenon which enabled an enraged female to hit far harder than even the strongest of Demons before, and he found he didn't like it one bit.

"Do you know how hard it is to keep someone that traumatized calm?" Sayu hissed, staring at Mello with death in her eyes. Mello backed up a step.

Misa tugged on Sayu's sleeve, staring at Ryuuk in fear and loathing. "Sayu-chan, Misa's fine. But, can Sayu-chan see that too?"

Sayu turned around slowly and stared at Ryuuk. "Is that...?"

Light nodded. "Yes, that is Ryuuk. A Shinigami, and the former holder of the Death Note that hides the personality known as Kira. We are going to interrogate him and find out the whole story, given the fact that a race such as the Shinigami should not be able to exist. Misa, I think that you are entitled to watch, given what the Shinigami stole from you. Sayu... as much as I want to protect you from things like that... you're a teen. Much older than Aryn and I were when we were first introduced to the horrors that one being can do to another. And I know for a fact that you read horror. L... I don't know. You need to know that we do this, but... it's not a part of me that I'm proud of. If you think you can, I suppose."

Sayu cocked her head to the side in curiosity. "What would 'interrogating' a Shinigami entail exactly?"

Light sighed heavily, flopping down in a chair. She stared at the ceiling, absently blowing a lock of her bangs out of her eyes as she attempted to bore a hole in the ceiling with only her eyes.

Aryn gently, but firmly pushed Near, Matt and Mello out of the room, pulling a bound and gagged Ryuuk along behind her. This was a conversation that Light needed to have, one that Aryn had had a long time ago with Near. It was the sucking out of the poison. Light had always been good at hiding her emotions, maybe a little too good. Admittedly she pulled down her barriers somewhat around Aryn and the others, but not nearly enough. Not enough for her mental wounds to scar over.

"You know that Aryn and I were commanders in the Angel army, right Sayu?" Light asked suddenly.

Sayu nodded. "You and Aryn were the most feared generals in the entire army, right? Almost more powerful than the Court. I know, Light. And I also know how much you hate that you did the things you did. I know that you realized what you were doing and _got out of there."_

Light sighed. "Well, we would occasionally be called on to do the dirty work. Interrogate the prisoners, torture a traitor, things along those lines." Light turned haunted eyes on L, begging him to understand. "We enjoyed it. I'll freely admit that. We were sadistic, and blood-thirsty, and we did things that drove many creatures insane. 'Interrogation' in those days was akin to a death sentence. No," Light mused, looking away from L's eyes, not wanting to see the horror and disgust and revulsion she knew she would see there, "a death sentence would probably have been preferable in many cases."

Sayu leaned forward and laid a gentle hand on Light's shoulder. Light nearly flinched away from it, but instead she sighed, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

"Something you have to understand about me, Aryn, any of us really. We are not healthy people. You deserve to know that. to know that you can walk away from us, right now, and not a single one of us will blame you. We are insane. Sadistic and twisted and broken and hypocritical and we admit it. We admit that we hide, that most of what we show is a lie, but not when we are together. As long as we have each other we can let go, spiral into the madness and know that the others will be there, deeper in, higher up, there to save us."

Misa gasped slightly at the sound of Light's voice. She sounded utterly broken, much the way war veterans did immediately after returning from a long tour of service.

"We have taken lives. Not a single one of us has any idea how many lives we have taken, either by our own hands or under our orders. Somewhere in the hundreds, thousands... all together, more than Kira. That is for certain. Interrogation now means that we will be letting go, letting our darker sides come out as we look for the answers we seek. It will _not_ be pretty. There will be gore, pain, and whatever Shinigami have in place of blood. We will be disturbing and most likely traumatize the Shinigami. But it will also be fully deserved. That Shinigami there is responsible for Kira. that Shinigami is the one who let go of the notebook, let it fall and possess a high school student, make him kill so many humans. That Shinigami in there is the reason so many have died before their time.

"So, I will leave it up to each of you. Do you want to see this? I doubt that you will be able to go anywhere in the building without being able to hear at least a little bit of it, but by no means do you have to see it, to watch it and know that we are the ones doing it, that we are _enjoying_ it. And I'm the one who leads it. I am the one who can best control it, show just the right amount of insanity and calculating cruelty to unnerve them, make them fear and force them to show what we want them to."

Light fell silent, tears wanting to fall from her eyes, but not knowing how. Light didn't even know when the last time she had cried, truly cried, was. Not even when Lujayn died did she cry. She jerked in surprise when L placed an arm around her shoulders, awkwardly, unsure of himself, and uncomfortable with the knowledge that Misa and Sayu were watching, but knowing that Light, his Light, needed comfort.

"Light should know that if the knowledge that she isn't human and in fact is the ruler of a rather large nation didn't frighten me away, then something like the fact that Light is sadistic wouldn't. I find that Light means to much to me for me to ever walk away." L said softly, wanting to reassure Light that he wouldn't leave, but not wanting to be so bald-faced about something like his inner-most feelings in front of an audience which was partially composed of his girl (boy? Genderswitch was confusing.) friend's ex.

Light smiled shakily at L snuggling deeper into L's embrace, hardly daring to believe that L, who dedicated his life to catching criminals could possibly not mind that she was sadistic.

Sayu stepped forward, looking straight at Light, eyes full of fear. "I will watch. If that Shinigami was responsible for Kira, for the suffering of the whole world, then he deserves it. And I will feel no qualms about it as long as he deserves it. But I will not participate."

Light nodded, understanding how Sayu felt. She could take joy in the suffering of one responsible for the loss of so many lives, even if they were criminal, but she could not take part in causing the suffering.

MIsa sighed, staring at the carpet. "I watched my parents get killed before my eyes. My mother was raped repeatedly and my father was castrated with a rusty knife, before they both were left there to bleed out. The murderer thought he got me too, but he didn't. He got my twin sister. He littered her body with cuts, and poured gasoline into them. After I saw something like that, do you really think that watching a murderer get tortured? I will watch, Light-taichou, and I will help. The Shinigami stole the last of my innocence from me, and it's only fair that I be allowed to return the favor." Misa smiled. It was not a nice smile. "It's time Misa lived up to her full name. Kuromisa, the black Mass."

Sayu stared at Misa. "What do you mean?"

Misa's smile softened slightly. "Light-taichou didn't just give Misa her memories from when she was possessed by a Shinigami back, she also unlocked some older memories. Her parents weren't human, apparently. They were actually an incubus and a succubus. She's fairly powerful. Enough so that she could easily be one of the Ladies of the Court. But her parents sealed her power just before they died, and also all memories of them that would have led Misa to thinking they weren't human. After all, the one who killed them was one of the Lords of the Court. They thought that Misa's family had been declared traitors, and that Redzsaz-taichou and Balbdas-taichou had sent the Lord to kill us. So, they took away Misa's memories and made her human until either taichou were to give Misa her memories back."

Light stared at Misa, amazed. "I thought there were some similarities, but it was such long odds...plus the Shinigami... that I never thought to ask... Misa, are you the older daughter of Shinji and Kyukei Yukana?"

Misa nodded solemnly, before prostrating herself on the ground. "Yes I am, Balbdas-taichou. I beg of you, kindly do not kill me for whatever sin my family committed against your rule!"

Light stared at Misa's prostrate form. "First of all, stand up. It's not seemly to throw yourself at someone's feet like that. Second, please don't call me Balbdas-taichou. Both Aryn and I hate the fact that none of our subjects _ever_ call us by our new names. third, your parents never committed any crime in this Realm that I am aware of. It was a tragedy in our domain when news of the death of three of the most promising beings in our Realm were killed by a human, and that the last of the family disappeared. If what you are saying is true, then it would appear that we have a traitor in the midst of the Court. Can you identify the one who killed your parents, Misa?"

Misa stood up hurriedly, blushing fiercely in embarrassment. "Hai, Light-taichou!"

Light groaned and sank her head back to stare at the ceiling. "It's just Light. Not Light-taichou, and definitely not Balbdas-taichou._ Just. Light._ Please, can't you just go back to attacking me with hugs every other second? I hate it when people act differently around me when they feel like they're under my power."

Misa frowned slightly. "Misa would, Light-chan, but..." she trailed off, looking at L worriedly. L was staring at Misa with death in his eyes from his position next to Light, still with an arm around her. "Misa doesn't think that glomping Light-chan would be conducive to her health."

Light frowned in confusion, before following Misa's gaze and seeing L's death glare. She lightly whapped him on the head. "L! No! Calm down, okay?" Light sighed. "Why is it always me who ends up dealing with the childish ones? L, calm down. Misa, just treat me like you would any friend of yours. But first, can you name the Lord that killed Keiko, Shinji and Kyukei?"

Misa frowned. "Misa doesn't know his name, but she has seen his face since that night. Last night to be exact. The owner of that club, the one that got demolished? Him. The freaky scaled blue one that Aryn called Rex."

Light hissed in disgust. "That slimy worm! We may have been willing to let the fact that he nearly destroyed the multiverse slide because he truly didn't know any better, but this has gone too far! He has no authority to sentence another to death, especially not one of our Court." Light stood up and began pacing. "He'll have gone to ground after this. He always has been one to test the limits, and I don't think he truly believes in how powerful Aryn and I really are. So he'll underestimate us, and he won't know who you really are, Misa. We should be able to catch him soon. Preferably before Friday, so we can use him as a peace offering to at least one of the other Courts, help them to calm down and see reason."

Mello popped into the room. "Oi! Light and whoever else is going to help, come on! The Shinigami's getting a bit antsy, so we're going to want to do this soon."

Light sighed, looking at the other three. "Are you all sure? You know it will be bloody and gory."

L, Misa and Sayu nodded determinedly. They were going to help bring to light (no pun intended) the secrets of the Shinigami.

* * *

Ryuuk was confused. When he had felt that the Death Note had been picked up again, he was ecstatic. Finally! He could finally go back to Earth and watch the fun that always occurred from Lighto's plans happen from up close! But then... something had happened... What he came back to was in no way what he had been expecting. How did Lighto turn into a girl? Why did he (she?) make L hug him? (her?) And who were those other people... Near Nate River Tieva Tepes... Aryn Redzsaz Arget _Yagami_ Suino... Mello Mihael Keehl Illanov... Matt Mail Jeevas Hakkeh... And most of all, how had Lighto managed to change his (her?) name while Ryuuk was away? Light Balbdas Yagami Arget Suino... The blonde chick too, the one who latched onto Lighto like a leech after getting her hands on a Death Note... Kuromisa Yukana...

Ryuuk was confused, and not in a good way.

Ryuuk was also in a dark room, gagged and unable to move. This was an unfamiliar situation for the Shinigami. Never before had he been held captive, never before had he been bound, and, while he thought he might be able to remember a time, long ago, when his face wasn't always pulled back tight against his skull in a Chelsea smile, when he wasn't able to talk, it hadn't been quite like this. In any case, it had been a long time ago, since before humans even gave themselves names, and it hadn't been for very long, even by human terms. The normally noisy Shinigami decided that he didn't like not being able to talk one bit.

The blond guy, Mello Mihael Keehl Illanov, and the red-brown haired chick whose skin had changed colors, Aryn Redzsaz Arget Yagami Suino, had tossed his bound body into the small room and closed the door, leaving Ryuuk in the dark. And Ryuuk did mean in the dark. Somehow, even Ryuuk's Shinigami eyes couldn't see anything around him. Ryuuk didn't like being blind either. He was finding a lot of things he didn't like very much in the past half hour.

Suddenly the door creaked open and seven shadows slipped into the room. Ryuuk twitched, hoping that he would be let go. A group of dark chuckles rose up around him. Ryuuk strained, trying to see the names of the group around him, but his vision was still dimmed, and he could see nothing.

A series of clatters and bangs reached Ryuuk's ears. He twitched. That did not sound healthy.

"No, I don't think we'll be letting you go," a voice full of dangerous promise said softly to Ryuuk's left side. Ryuuk jerked around automatically, and was surprised when his body actually obeyed his commands. He tried to unfurl his wings and hissed in disappointment. That binding was still in place, even if the others had dissipated.

The figure on Ryuuk's left giggled childishly. "We aren't idiots. About the farthest thing from actually. Of course we aren't letting your wings go. It's just that it's nearly impossible to properly interrogate something if it can't move around, scream, beg, give the information we want. Oh no, we can't have that. So we let go of most of your bindings."

"What's happening?" Ryuuk asked, nearly stuttering in fear. These people weren't sane, and somehow they could touch Shinigami! What were they?

The light's flared on at Ryuuk's question, at the same time allowing Ryuuk's Shinigami eyes to work as they were supposed to, rather than as human eyes. After a moment of being blinded by both the red tint, and the stark florescent lighting that was now glaring down, Ryuuk was able to see what the source of the clatters had been.

A row of glinting, evil looking metal instruments lay on a surgeon's tray. A metal gurney stood in the center of the room, plain metal. Wide leather straps hung from it, bearing heavy buckles. There was no doubt in Ryuuk's mind that that gurney was where he was to go. Everything was pristinely clean, metal glinting from every surface.

Except for the figures standing cowled before him, names floating over their heads, taunting him. He knew their names, he knew their faces, and he could see their lifespans. Between these seven people, he could gain almost a thousand years of life. More, even. Ryuuk never had been too good at math.

But that wasn't the point. the point was, he could kill these people and escape. If only he had his Death Note. But no, they had taken that too. He was helpless to their whims.

"Ryuuk," Light said softly, letting a hint of the madness she kept so tightly locked up into her voice. "I suggest you answer our questions honestly and to the best of your ability. Remember, we took you out this easily, what could we do if we were truly annoyed with you? On top of that, you are the cause of the loss of many lives, both human and non-human. That alone puts you at our mercy according to the laws of this Realm."

Ryuuk shivered. This wasn't the Lighto he was used to! The Lighto he was used, while a murderer, wasn't so cold as this. Wasn't able to convey worlds of hurt with just a voice, wasn't insane and willing to hurt a person if something went wrong.

"Y-you're Kira!" Ryuuk pointed out. "You're the one who wrote down all those names, actually killed those people!"

Light held up a hand, stopping the abortive motion Aryn made towards Ryuuk. Light walked forward calmly, stopping in front of Ryuuk and spoke. There were glaciers in her words and Mello was fairly sure that if her voice got any colder, he was going to have to stat roasting the room.

"I? I was the one who killed all those men and women? I was Kira? No, Ryuuk. It seems there are things you are not aware of. Did you know that that notebook, your Death Note, has a killer presence within it? Did you know that it takes control of whichever human is unfortunate enough to pick it up? Did you know that, in the hands of one who has fought in wars for centuries, longer than almost any being alive, it will take the base personality of that person and twist it, turning back the clock, so that all the humanity that person has gained disappears, leaving a blood thirsty beast that the Death Note then takes over?"

"W-What are ya talkin' about, Lighto? I don't know nothing bout any murderous presences in the Death Note." Ryuuk laughed nervously, eyes darting from side-to-side in nerves.

Light tisked softly. "Silly Ryuuk. I told you not to lie. Mello, would you do the honors? Don't hurt him too much. Just give him a taste of what will happen if he isn't truthful in the future."

Mello smirked. "Gladly," he spat, his eyeteeth enlongating as his eyes drained to a sickly yellow-green. He leaned forward and sank his eyeteeth into Ryuuk, manipulating the poison in his fangs so that it was literally changing boiling in Ryuuk's body.

For a moment, Ryuuk didn't feel anything. The nerves of a Shinigami are long dead, and not easy to penetrate. But then a slow burning built within him, hotter and hotter, faster and faster, until Ryuuk thought he was going to melt from the pain. Ryuuk screamed.

Mello smirked, and let the poison settle into a liquid again. Matt neutralized it so that it was only water. (They didn't want their Shinigami to die on them due to having been injected with one of the most potent corrosives in the world, now did they?)

The pain stopped. Ryuuk stopped screaming, blinking a few times in confusion. "Wha?" he asked.

Light leaned forward, staring into the eyes of the Shinigami that was on his knees before her, gasping in remembered pain. "I told you Ryuuk, _don't lie to us._ That was just a taste of what will happen should you lie to us again. Now, I will ask you again: Did you know that there is a killer presence in the Death Note?"

Ryuuk nodded fearfully. "I did. It's somethin' all the new Shinigami learn. But they don' tell us it can take control of humans. They say it's just ta... motivate the lazier Shinigami. It gets ta the point where, if ya don' kill with it, it'll start poking at yer brain, making ya crazy. They never said nothin' about it takin' over humans! I thought the Death Note had just been picked up by a particularly homicidal kid, not a... whatever it is ya are! Please believe me!" Ryuuk held his hands up above his head, protectively. That was the first time he had felt pain in a long time, and he had just found another thing that he did not like.

Light leaned back, staring intently at Ryuuk. "I didn't expect us to break him that quickly. Matt, his aura is _dead_. I can't tell if he's lying. Can you tell?"

Matt nodded. "He's telling the truth. I don't think we'll be having much trouble with him anymore."

"Probably hasn't felt actual pain in forever," Aryn agreed. "That body doesn't look like it's any good at conducting sensations. And then we go and start him with one of the highest levels of pain. Funny, I always thought that the mythical Death Gods, had they existed, would be a _bit_ tougher than this."

Light smirked down at Ryuuk. "Well, if we aren't having any trouble with him, let's see what else he can tell us. Tell me, Ryuuk, how did Shinigamis come to be what they are today?"

Ryuuk opened his mouth to answer, but Light cut him off.

"And don't even try to say something along the lines of 'We've always been this way!' Do you think us fools? Humans have not always borne names, so it would be impossible for a race that depends on writing down names for food to have always existed. So, care to explain?"

"I don' know!" Ryuuk said quickly. "I'm not any sorta int'rested in history, I only care 'bout the present! But, I think I do remember one a' the other Shinigami's mentionin' somethin'!" He added quickly when he saw Mello scowl slightly. "I'm not sure, bu' I think he said somethin' about Shinigami once having been normal bein's, killing living things directly for food. The Realm used to be nice too. Lush and green, able to have things livin' offa it. Then somethin' changed. I'm not from before, so I can't tell ya what. But Shinigami went from normal bengs to warped and twisted like they are today. The Realm shriveled up and dried to the dust and bone place it is today. 'Bout then was when the Death Note's first appeared apparently."

"I see..." Light said softly, remembering a similar occurrence millennia ago in the Realm of Heaven. She was also mentally revising the necessity of killing all the Shinigami. If all of them were like Ryuuk, unaware that their notebooks could possess humans, then it they were essentially victims in this affair... All creatures killed for food, Shinigami just did it in a manner a bit more removed than most. Maybe they could be left alive...

"Perhaps the Death Notes were the cause of whatever it was that happened to the Shinigami Realm?" Near asked.

"Either that or they were released as a result of whatever it was that happened," Mello retorted. "Things have been known to happen like that. Hell suffered some sort of disease that wiped out damn near every female demon in the Realm, so the early demons had to turn to the animals that lived there in order for them to continue their species. That's pretty much how the different breeds of Demon came about, and you know that Heaven managed to release the Hounds, their fricked up search and destroy dogs, from some sort of glacier up near the equivalent of Greenland. It's entirely possible that the Shinigami Realm released the Death Notes' presences via natural disaster of epic proportions."

"We can figure those things out later," Light reminded them. "Right now, let's hear the rest of the story, ne? Continue, Ryuuk."

"I don' know much, like I said, I ain't int'rested in history. And that's way before my time. I know I used to be human though. Shinigami used to be able to reproduce natur'lly, but now... They're turned. A Shinigami is born when a human is killed by a Shinigami at the exac' moment their lifespan runs out. It don' happen often. I think... Gelous was the las' one to get turned."

Misa inhaled sharply. "The Shinigami that gave his life up for me?" she asked intently.

"Is tha' wha' happened ta him? He died for a human?" Ryuuk asked, genuinely surprised.

Light shook her head. "Not exactly a human. We'll explain soon. Ryuuk, can you tell us anything about how the Death Notes came to be used as they are?"

Ryuuk shifted uncomfortably. "I might. I know that for a while, those destructive things were flying wild 'round the Realm, causin' trouble. At some point, not sure when exac'ly, Shinigami were changed. What little food they caught wasn' very fillin', and they were hungry again too quickly. Soon they began to see little numbers over the heads of things, usually the odd things that swung around in the trees-"

"The primitive humans of that realm?" L asked, staring at Ryuuk.

"I guess so," Ryuuk replied. "I wasn' around back then, but Jason's a major hist'ry buff, an' he ain' shy 'bout sharin' what he knows. Anyway, they found tha' the things wit' higher numbers over their heads made the Shinigami fuller for longer. It wasn' long before they began specifically huntin' for the ones with lots a numbers. Eventually, some Shinigami stumbled 'cross a giant pool of glowin' white _stuff_. He fell in, and came back wit' stories of many more of the tree-things with more numbers, and some other odd writin'. O'course, there ended up bein' a mass movemen' to here, a take a look around. Tha' was durin' the... I think it's called the Stone Age by humans?" Ryuuk asked. "The tree-things weren't in the trees anymore, an' they were usin' tools, at least."

Light nodded. "That does sound like at least the Stone Age, possibly the Bronze. Anyway, you were saying...?"

"The Shinigami were jus' turnin' invisible then, an' these tree-things were smarter than the tree-things they knew. It was harder for them ta get fed, an' the ones that were harder ta see ended up livin' longer. Think I heard ya mention somethin' that I thought fit - Darwinism, I think? Anyway, soon enough the Shinigami were invisible to humans, but somethin' was happenin'. The Shinigami were losin' the ability to make more of themselves. Think Jason described it as 'an-eye-for-an-eye situation'. They traded the ability ta be invisible for the ability ta make more of themselves the normal way. Shortly after tha', humans started making weapons, an' it got ta the point where any Shinigami had ta be suicidal ta hunt one, but it was also suicidal _not_ ta hunt 'em. Tha's abou' when the Death Notes' presences approached us. They had the ability ta kill from a distance if someone else filled the conditions, which were tha' someone write the other symbols over a human's head on 'em. But only then. So, they offered ta let us write names constantly, and have 'em feeding us the life force, which they said was wah' was makin' a diff'rence in how long a Shinigami was fine for."

"When did they become notebooks?" Light asked intently, a joyful glitter in her eyes. Finally they were getting somewhere! Admittedly, they still didn't know _where_ the things inside of the Death Notes had come from, but they were learning how the Shinigami came to be what they were now!

"Don' actu'ly know. Don' think anyone does. Now tha' I think abou' it, I know that mine, at least, was a rock for a while after I became a Shinigami. Can' actu'ly remember it becomin' a notebook, it's jus' I noticed it was differen' one day, bu' it seemed right, so I kinda jus... left it. Which really ain't like me. I ain't one ta leave somethin' interestin' like that alone, bu' I did. Weird, huh?"

Misa nodded sympathetically. "Misa can imagine. It'd be like Misa realizing that she'd been modeling for a while, when she always wanted to be a psychologist."

Everyone stared at her for a moment, trying to fit the image of Misa-Misa, the psychologist, into their minds.

"Yes, well," Light cleared her throat. "I think that just about exhausts that subject. Next question: Ryuuk, how much do the Shinigami know about other Realms? Besides Earth, I mean."

Ryuuk tilted his head to the side, managing to look like someone's puppy crossbred with the world's ugliest dinosaur. But cuter. "Wha'? I ain' never heard of any spare worlds floatin' around."

Matt sighed in relief. "Thank Odin. If the Shinigami don't know about the other Realms, then the other Realms don't know about the Shinigami."

Mello sank to the floor. "And if the other Realms had had the Shinigami on their side, then we'd have been dead within a week. Not to mention all of our subjects."

Light shot them an annoyed glare. "Oi! Business going on right now! Not the time for idle conversation!"

Matt glared right back. "Oi! He's told us everything he knows! And he was telling the truth when he said that he didn't know about the horrors he unleashed on the Realm! And, quite frankly, I think that, even if he ain't strong enough for the position of a lord, that he'd be invaluable to us. Yeah, we have crazy-strong powers, but think how much less willing to fight they'd be if they heard that we had an actual _God of Death_ on our side!"

"Hate to interrupt this cozy little planning session," Aryn said caustically, "but you know we'll have to get rid of the presences in the Notes, right? Can't risk them falling into innocent hands, now can we?"

Light rolled her eyes at her twin. "Aryn, I don't understand how you can possibly suffer from such horrid mood swings. Seriously, one moment you're the most immature of the lot of us, and then the next you're a cynical bitch. If I hadn't seen Avarlist, I'd say you have MPD. But I have, so my best idea is that Near suffers from impotence."

Near blushed fiercely. Aryn bristled and threw herself at Light in anger. Light jumped backwards, swiping Aryn's feet out from under her.

"Gotta be a little faster than that!" Light taunted, itching for a fight. "C'mon! I can't access any of my powers right now, I'm basically a human! What's it gonna say if you can't take out a human?"

Aryn snarled as she rolled quickly to her feet, crouching as she stared at Light. After a moment she threw herself at her twin again.

Ryuuk watched in stupefied confusion as the two girls began bouncing around the room like a human pinball game. Suddenly there was a flash, and Light turned back to a guy. He yelped at the sudden change in his center of gravity and promptly lost his balance, performing a rather spectacular face-plant into the floor. Aryn shrieked as she shot over Light's head, right through the area where Light had been a moment ago and crashed into the wall, managing to dent the metal walls.

Ryuuk stared. He mentally repeated his earlier sentiment: What were these people? He was fairly sure that normal people did _not_ turn from male to female to back again in an instant.

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**A/N: **I know I'm going to get questions on this, so I'm going to answer the questions right now. The torture scene was a lot less mild than Light expected because she thought that Ryuuk was going to have a higher pain tolerance. Basically, she wasn't expecting the Shinigami to wimp out so quickly. Also, L-5's mostly changed their views on the Shinigami's needing to die. They were thinking that when all they knew was that Ryuuk had dropped the Death Note, and it then possessed Light, causing him to start killing. (Humans, that is. Little late for just killing, period.)

Also, what did you people think of my evolution of the Shingami? I'm trying to make the magic as scientific as possible, just cause. Though, of course there has to be some magic in there for it to work!

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Omake: (Cause the idea wouldn't get out of my mind.)(Isn't L-5, for once.)

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There was a blond, leather-wearing prostitute in the central room for the investigation team.

"L...you did notice that there's a blond prostitute in the room, right?" Light asked, glancing at L, who appeared utterly consumed with his panda crackers.

"I am not a prostitute!" the blond male howled in anger.

L looked at Light. "I apologize, Light-kun. I forgot to inform you of the fact that one of my heirs was coming to aid us with the Kira case. This is Mello. That is, of course, not his real name."

Light looked disbelievingly at the angry blond. "...I see. You know, L, I often despair for the future of humanity, but I do believe that this has put my faith in humanity at an all-time low. Congratulations."

"...Up .1%, Light-kun."

"For what?" Light asked. "Losing faith in humanity?"

"Yes."

"..." Light stared at L for a minute before turning away in disgust. "I don't know why I even try."

"If Light-kun would just confess to being Kira, Light-kun would not have to try anymore," L pointed out.

"...You know, I'm starting to think that the prostitute being the next L isn't the worst thing to ever happen to humanity, you are."

"I am not a prostitute," Mello insisted.

"I should probably point out that Mello is second in line for the position of L," L mused.

Light snorted. "Great. what does the first in line dress like? A stripper?"

Mello had a sudden, vivid vision of Near trying to act like a stripper, and burst into hysterical laughter.

"...Was it something I said?" Light asked uncertainly as he stared at Mello.

"God...Near...stripper...BWAHAHA!"

"I think so, Light-kun." L said, leaning forward out of his chair, and poking at Mello's cheek with a pencil. Mello swatted it away, recovering from his bout of insane laughter.

"Light, my man, I do believe that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Mello cooed as he draped himself across Light's shoulders, deciding that anyone who could make Near seem like an idiot, even just in his imagination, was well worth being his second friend.

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Please review! I'm getting less than ten percent of my reader's reviewing... It's not making for a happy writer.


	17. Mello's Shock and L's Boyfriend

So... I have +50 pages written out past this. And I'm only writing Chapter 23. I think my chapters are getting bigger.

Disclaimer: This is the seventeenth goddamn fricking time! How many times do I have to say that **I don't own Death Note?

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**Chapter 17 - Mello's Shock and L's Boyfriend**

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Aryn turned around to yell at Light for _daring_ to call Near impotent and then crashing her into the wall, but then she realized exactly _why_ Light had fallen to the ground a few seconds ago. Aryn promptly began laughing her head off. Light was picking himself up off of the ground, looking rather ruffled. Quite a difference from his normally nearly immaculate appearance.

Then again, Light wasn't usually one to wear Aryn's clothes, especially not ones specifically designed to draw attention to... certain areas of the body. Light was currently experiencing something he never had before. Involuntary cross-dressing.

Matt cracked up laughing. "Da-_yum_, Light, you almost look more like a girl now than when you actually _were_ one!"

Light sighed, rolling his eyes. He rolled his shoulders, trying to get his wings to burst free. They were itching and really annoying him, but his shoulder muscles were incredibly knotted, to the point where it was impossible for his wings to materialize. L, an excellent reader of body language, saw how tense Light was and decided to help him out a bit.

Light froze as a pair of hands began to massage his shoulders. Then he heard L begin speaking in his ear and relaxed slightly.

"It's okay, Light. I'm not surprised you're so tense. It must be rather traumatic to actually inhabit a female's body for several hours, and then return so suddenly to one's own."

Light rolled his shoulders, sighing as L managed to reach a deep kink. With every move of L's fingers, another knot of muscle unravelled, leaving Light's wings closer to bursting forth.

"It's not that..." Light returned, trying not to groan at how wonderful it felt to have someone massage his shoulders like this. "Okay, somewhat. My shoulder muscles are so knotted that my wings won't come out. And they _really_ want to come out."

Mello, who happened to have overheard L and Light's conversation, burst out laughing. "That's what _she_ said!" he crowed gleefully.

L tilted his head to the side in confusion. "That's what who said, Mello?"

Mello stopped laughing to stare at L. "You've never heard... damn. Just... just damn. I didn't think that even _you_ wouldn't know about that. I don't know how prevalent that phrase is, but I do know that it is recognized in most English-speaking countries. It works like this: Whenever someone says something potentially perverted, another person breaks in with the phrase "That's what _she_ said!" You seriously never heard it get used?"

L nodded. "That is correct, I have never come across such an idiom in my experience."

Mello blinked at him blankly before looking at Light. "Light, sorry to tell you this, but your taste in men seems to be lacking if you can find almost the only English-speaker over the age of thirteen who has never heard 'That's what she said'. It's a sad truth, man."

Light glared at Mello. "I think my taste in men is just fine," he said defensively, pulling L into a protective hug in front of him.

"Does anyone happen to remember that not only do we have a Shinigami in the room, none of us have had breakfast?" Near asked, instantly silencing the rest of the room. Stares turned to him.

"Near, you do realize that we will act like this even when we are in a diplomatic meeting, right? So why the hell would we change how we act just because there's a Shinigami in the room?" Mello asked after a moment.

Misa, meanwhile, frowned. "You know... is anyone actually cooking breakfast? Misa just thought we'd be going out to a diner or something."

Aryn shuddered. "Hell _fucking_ no! I just get here, where someone who can actually cook lives, and you want me to go back to crappy diner food? Bitch!"

Misa looked startled. "I'm... sorry, Aryn-taichou?" she asked tentatively.

Aryn ceased portraying false anger in favor of staring Misa. She's just been teasing, the way she did with everyone else! Why had the girl reacted like that? But, more importantly... "What did you just call me?"

Misa paused, thought over her last sentence, gave a cry and threw herself down on the floor. "Misa is sorry! Please don't punish Misa!"

"...what the crap?" Aryn asked, before looking startled at Light as he sent her the memories of Misa's confession about her memories. "Holy shit! We... Kuromisa Yukana disappeared almost three years ago. For a period of time, there was a search for you, but you never reappeared. So, Kuromisa was written off as dead. I suppose that would be why none of us recognized you."

Misa shivered on the floor. So far, Aryn-taichou wasn't sounding nearly as comforting as Light-taichou had.

Matt smacked Aryn across the back of the head. "Stop terrifying the poor girl, Aryn! It's okay," Matt reached down and grabbed Misa's hand, pulling her up to standing. "So, you're Kuromisa? Well, can't say we ever expected to see you alive again, but it's a wonderful piece of news. We don't have so many truly loyal in the Court that we can afford to lose four at once without serious repercussions. Oh, by the way, we only insist on formalities when we're actually holding Court, or dealing with Court matters. The rest of the time, feel free to act with us like you would with any other person."

Misa blushed slightly, not used to such powerful people paying attention to _her_. Even when she was being possessed by the second Kira, it wasn't really her that Light was paying attention to, and she'd always been kept slightly apart from the Court when her parents were alive.

Mello gritted his teeth. Sure, the Yukanas had been the most loyal family in their Court, but that didn't give Misa the right to blush like that or take away Matt's attention from Mello!

Mello only vaguely realized how much he was sounding like a jealous teenage _girl_, but he didn't really care, having long ago admitted to the fact that he was completely and utterly in love with his red-haired best friend. And only unattached best friend, Mello reminded himself as he saw how Near was looking at Aryn, and how L was massaging Light's shoulders again.

Misa trembled in fear. Matt-taichou may have been acting nice about who she really was, and so was Light-taichou, but no one else seemed happy about it! Mello-taichou was glaring at her as if she were the scum off a pond and Aryn-taichou had been so angry at her for just asking a question! Misa wasn't a fool, she knew that these people she had fallen in with weren't the rulers of the beings on Earth without any reason, and she knew she didn't want to get them annoyed! Especially not Light-taichou, not when his opinion meant so much to Sayu-chan!

At that moment, Light's wings chose to stop being so pissy and just come out already, with a loud ripping sound and a shower of black sparkles. Aryn laughed.

"Ha! See, Light! I'm perfectly justified in showering you with glitter! Even your own wings agree with me!" Aryn crowed triumphantly.

Ryuuk toppled over backwards in shock. He thought he'd just seen Lighto grow a pair of wings, but that was impossible! Even for whatever these people were, only Shinigami could grow a pair of wings spontaneously!

Light brushed a lock of hair out of his face as he bent over backwards trying to get the last kink out of his back.

Near shuddered slightly. "Kindly don't do that, Light. It looks rather like you have broken your back. I am fairly sure that the spine is not supposed to bend at such sheer angles."

Misa took a look at Light, having turned away to look at Ryuuk in concern. And squealed in disgust. "Ew! Your... your face is looking at the floor!"

And indeed, Light had bent over so far backward that he was looking directly at the floor. It did in fact look like he had broken his back, and the fact that his wings were outstretched fully did not help the illusion.

"Crap!" Light yelled suddenly. "I'm stuck!"

Aryn sighed in annoyance, walking over and smacking the back of Light's head hard enough that his torso jerked forward.

"Thanks Aryn!" Light said.

Suddenly a loud yelping was heard from outside of the room. Ryuuk wondered what other than a Shinigami could have a voice that was such a distinctive mix of animal and human. Then his question was answered in the form of a white almost-wolf skidding into the room and crashing into Lighto.

"Light!" Kina yelled. "Help Kina!"

Light stared at Kina. "Kina? When did you get here? Weren't you at my house?"

"Light-not-birth-dad come home, take Kina building. Kina follow scents." Kina explained quickly.

Light frowned in confusion. "How did Soichiro figure his way out of the building?" He wondered. "I really thought we'd have to go and pick him up at some point today."

And before Kina could answer Light's question, a black almost-wolf came running into the room, glaring at Kina. Kina yelped, diving behind Light.

"Kina-twin!" The black wolf yelled. "Evil! Kina deserve bad things!"

Light looked down at the cowering Kina. "Kina, what did you do?" His attempt at being stern was ruined by the fond smile tugging at his lips. Kina was always so fun to be around.

"Kina give Avarlist-brother Viagra," Kina explained quietly.

Cue moment of stunned silence.

Then cue Mello bursting out in laughter, shocking the others out of their stunned silence.

"Y-you _WHAT_?!" Light asked incredulously. "Kina... You should know better." He sighed in mock disappointment. Inside, he was rejoicing. He'd been nearly sure that Kina hadn't had any hint of a prankster in her, and now she did something like this! He was so proud of her!

It was at that time that Ryuuk decided to display his utter lack of knowledge about what was going on.

"Er...Wha's Viagra?" Ryuuk asked, sitting on the gurney that had been put there purely for effect. Setting was everything in certain things. "Speakin' of, wha is goin' on here? I'm kinda lost. 'Bout all I know is tha' a lo' of stuff's happened since I lef', and tha' I'm not bein' held responsible for Kira."

Near sighed, wondering how Shinigami had grown to be so feared by humans, when they were so _idiotic_. "Viagra is a medicine that is used by men. It is an aphrodisiac, and serves to cure impotence," Near explained, twirling a lock of hair as he stared at the ceiling. "Unfortunately it reacts rather oddly with magic, and any non-human sentient being, including Avarlist and Kina, even if they are personalities given life by our minds, that takes Viagra will find themselves impotent for a month, wile simultaneously increasing the sex drive of the being who took it. Viagra has actually been the cause of many deaths among our kingdom, due to sexual frustrations."

L snorted quietly. At this point, almost nothing could shock him, per say, about the nonhuman world. However, the thought of Viagra causing deaths in such a manner was one that was rather amusing.

Ryuuk stared. "How?"

"Sexual frustration leads to being more irritable," Aryn explained, grabbing Avarlist's ruff and pulling him away from Light and Kina. She forcefully sat him on the floor and began fiddling with the air around his neck, forming a transparent collar for him to wear. "Being more irritable among a race that is already irritable leads to challenges being given. Challenges being given means battles to the death. And of course, there's always the possibility of someone just forgetting the routine for challenges and just going for the throat."

"Dancing in the darkness as they spiral down into the madness. The bliss of peace waits there, but so too does the hell of reality. Seeing everything, yet knowing nothing, they laugh as they run to their doom," Mello said softly, gazing into nothing. "Borne on ecstasy, the Reaper smiles and weaves his deathly web."

L stared at Mello. "Is he... less okay than he usually is?"

Matt sighed, knowing that he was usually the one who explained something like this, and that it would seem weird to Light if he didn't, but gods! He didn't want to give the whatever it was that was hiding inside L more ammo. It already knew a hell of a lot more about them than anything else in any of the Realms. But even more so, he didn't want to give Light a reason to be suspicious.

"He gets like that sometimes. Each of us kinda has a thing that we can do better than almost anyone we've ever met. Mello is pretty much a poet. He is good at stringing words together and finding the right combination to strike someone's soul. Unfortunately he goes into a trance when he starts, and doesn't come out of it for a while."

Damn Matt hated this, but he knew if he explained in anything less than full detail, Light would know something was up. And Matt didn't know how well he could hide what he knew if Light decided to ask him about what he was hiding, it was just too big and Light too good at reading the bond.

"For me, it's technology. Anything to do with technology. Light can cook, and Aryn can paint. She's the reason Kina, Avarlist, and all the other sentient animals exist. They are essentially alternate personalities that she pulled from our heads and stuck in the paintings, giving them life. Kina is actually a facet of Light's personality that splintered off and gained consciousness. The fact that all the personalities are the opposite gender from the main personality is something we've never figured out."

L was glancing from Light, the fairly-close-to-human male, and Kina, the almost-wolf female. It didn't take a genius to tell what he was thinking.

_How did Light generate something like Kina?_

It was something Matt had wondered many times in the past when Light was being all serious and war-torn while Kina happily gnawed on the bone of some unfortunate animal. And then, at other times, it was so obvious that they were essentially the same person...

And then Matt snapped his attention back to the explanation he was supposed to be giving.

"Near is a gardener. You'd never think it to look at him, but he can make a plant grow in the open even in the wrong climate."

L nodded, actually hanging onto the explanation for once. He had to wonder though, did the trio's intelligence have anything to do with the fact that they weren't human?

" 'Ey!" Ryuuk yelled. "Confused Shinigami over 'ere! Can someone _please_ tell me wah' the '_ell_ is goin' on 'ere?"

And Matt sighed, readying himself for yet _another_ round of explanations. He settled himself down and began to explain the backstory to the newest member of the Earthly Court (Not that he had much of a choice about it.), only to get interrupted by one of Light's odd balls of magic light with powers of telekinesis buzzing into the room and purring agitatedly at Light.

Matt smiled. Those things really were cute, even if he did half expect them to burst out with a "_Furrrr-by!"_ Seriously, the resemblance was uncanny, minus the beaks and eternally sleepy eyes.

Light nodded at the Tama before turning back to the group at large. "Okay, gang, food is ready. Matt, Misa, there is coffee, and apparently you might want to hurry. Sayu is gulping it down."

And Matt panicked and ran out of the room, aware of Kuromisa hot on his heels as they raced for the coffee. He was mildly upset that Mello didn't hurry too, but he knew that Mello was nowhere near the caffeine junkie that he was.

"Get away from my coffee!" Matt yelled loudly when he reached the living room, knowing how quickly coffee could disappear into Sayu's black hole of a mouth. "My coffee!" he yelled again, snatching it away from Sayu and beginning to cuddle it to his body.

Sayu growled and tackled him. They began rolling around on the floor, fighting over the thermos of coffee. Matt thought it was probably a good thing that everything that held food, paint or liquid in it had been magicked to never spill. Otherwise there would have been coffee everywhere.

Misa stood back slightly, scared to enter the tangle, but in dire need of coffee. Then Matt kicked her in the shin, and Misa's doubts evaporated as she threw herself into the scuffle with the vigor of an angry lioness.

Mello stared at the tangle of limbs on the ground in shock. He had stayed still for about two seconds, before the fact that Kuromisa had followed Matt out of the room had penetrated his mind and he ran after the duo, intent on keeping anything from happening. Two seconds, and _this_ happened? It looked like Matt, Kuromisa and Sayu were having a kinky sado-maso threesome that involved creative use of a coffeepot.

That observation took a few moments to sink into his mind, and then Mello was wading into the fight, intent on separating the three caffeine junkies. He ended up getting drawn into the fight instead when Sayu accidentally bit his shin while aiming for Matt's arm.

"Oh it's _on_!" he yelled in pained anger, thumping Sayu solidly on the top of the head. Sayu yowled and elbowed Mello's gut. He doubled over in pain.

Light and Aryn exchanged exasperated looks. Near twirled a lock of hair between his forefinger and his middle finger unconcernedly. Ryuuk looked impressed that four semi-humans could create sounds like that.

L was annoyed with the fact that no one seemed concerned by the noises coming from the living room. It sounded like someone was being murdered! "Aren't any of you concerned in the least?" L asked, glaring slightly at Light. "It sounds like the four of them are attempting to kill each other."

Light sighed, rolling his eyes towards the sky. "Sayu and Matt always end up fighting over the coffee and no one's gotten hurt yet. I know for a fact that Kuromisa Yukana studied at least two different martial arts, and Mello can hold his own against an army. Really, all we can do is sit out the storm, and then it'll be perfectly safe. Give about, oh, ten minutes and we'll go out there to grab the rest of the food and set up buffet style in the living room."

Aryn frowned, staring at the door. "It was weird how quickly Mello shot out of here though. It was like he thought someone was going to rape someone out there or something."

"Wow, clear as mud." Light rolled his eyes at her. Aryn stuck her tongue out at him.

"You understood what I was saying though, didn't you?" she pointed out.

Light shrugged. "So? By the way, keep your tongue in your mouth if you aren't going to use it."

Aryn blinked at him for a moment before coming to a decision. "Fine then, I guess I _will_ use it!" And she walked over to Near and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

Light sighed in disgust, turning away. "I know she loves him, but damn. Do they have to dry-hump each other every chance they get?" he asked of no one, only to be greeted by a shock of cold air from Aryn. He shivered slightly. "Whatever. Now, Ryuuk, I think you were asking for explanations?"

And Light settled himself down on the floor, pulling L down next to him so Light could lean on him while explaining everything for the second time that week.

Ten minutes later, the yells and grunts of pain from the living room had cased, and Aryn, L, Light, Near and Ryuuk trooped out to be greeted by the sight of four figures sitting on chairs, drinking coffee calmly, giving no indication that just half a minute ago they had been snarling like animals and fighting each other.

L was privately shocked at how calm they were as everyone sat down to eat the food that the Tamas brought out from the kitchen. And so Sunday passed in the investigative headquarters as they reveled in having a new knowledge of how Kira worked, one that they hadn't gotten through the memories Light had dragged out of the shadows that had been left in his and Misa's minds. And then came Monday, and the return of the task force to the building.

* * *

Dun-dun-dun! Yeah, things re going to start to happen quicker now. I ain't going to say when for you people, but on my end, the Kira arc of SL5DH has been wrapped up.

Oh, and there is not a chance in hell that this will end up being MattMisa, Matt is simply the one who is able to react to major surprises the best.

So, who spat out whatever they may have been drinking at the time when they read the line about the kinky threesome and the coffeepot? (In other words, _review!_ I know I get 80+ people reading this story, and fewer than ten people review each time. Ego boosts make me more inclined to write and share sequels.)

* * *

**Omake - Matt, half wolf, and Near, half vampire, get interviewed about the book _Twilight._ And then a possessive Mello bursts in on the scene. Oh dear.**

(ANd Matt and Mello _are _in a relationship during this omake, just cause the humor potential is multiplied exponentially.)

**

* * *

**

Interviewer: All right then. I am interviewing a real werewolf and a real vampire regarding their opinions of Twilight, the sensational saga that is sweeping America by storm. Matt, Near, is there anything you would like to start off with?

Matt: :eye twitching: First of all, I am not a werewolf, I am half Wolf Demon, and Near's _half_ vampire! God, we gave you the goddamned sheet, so why the hell can't you get that straight?

Near: I would like to begin by addressing the slanderous accusations Stephanie Meyer made regarding vampires and the sun. Contrary to popular opinion, we do not sparkle. Nor do we burst into flames, nor crumble into dust. The most severe reaction to the sun that I have ever seen was a second degree sunburn, and that was after the vampire in question fell asleep while outside, for a period of ten hours straight.

Interviewer: So then... Vampires aren't affected by the sun?

Near: Not exactly. We have an increased sensitivity to the sun, but that is the extent of it. Nothing fatal, but neither is it entirely harmless.

Matt: I'd like to address the issue of imprinting that the book brought up. Totally false. Wolf Demons do not have mates that they are searching for from the cradle. Nor do they fall in love with some random person as they are walking down the street, nor do they raise their mates from infancy to adulthood and then marry them. Wolf Demons are not paedophiles, despite the way Stephanie Meyer portrayed them. I, for one, am intensely grateful that there is no chance of me falling in love with someone I don't even know, as I have already fallen for someone.

:Mello barges into room, holding a bazooka:

Mello: Who? Tell me who's jeopardizing our relationship, and I'll take care of them for you, Matt!

Matt: :sighs: :face-palms: Mello! Dumbass, it's you! You're the one I'm talking about!

Mello: :stops rampaging: Wha- Really?

Matt: _Really. _Dumbass, I've told you I don't give a crap who you're related to, I love you all the same.

:Mello grabs Matt and pulls him out of the room:

Interviewer: :looking after them: Umm... The interview isn't over?

Near: Yes it is. You're not going to get any sense out of them in the mood that Mello's in.

Interviewer: :sweatdrops:


	18. Matt's Indignation and Near's Duty

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot, which I swear I will one day remove from all the DN stuff and make stand alone, and publish it. So please don't steal my plot, my OC's (You know, it's getting hard to remember that Aryn's an OC. Is that bad?) or anything else that you don't recognize from canon.

* * *

**Chapter 18 - Matt's Indignation and Near's Duty**

* * *

Aryn leaned over Light's shoulder, staring at the charts he was looking at on the computer.

"Remind me again why we're doing this? I'm _sick_ of looking at these charts and case files! I don't understand them!" she whined. Light had been the one to get the book skills out of the two of them. And _Odin_ was he glad of that sometimes, given that Aryn was dyslexic and couldn't read a case file to save her life.

Like now.

Light sighed. "We're looking through the case file on Kira so that we can identify the last Kira sooner." Light explained patiently. "After all, having six geniuses, even if one _is_ dyslexic, working on a case at the same time will speed the case up. And since with every death by Kira, the Death Note seems to get stronger, it is _imperative_ that we find the third Kira as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the strength doesn't appear to be anywhere near rivaling our own if we can just catch up to the third Kira."

L sighed, catching the mutinous glares Aizawa and Mogi were sending towards Light, Aryn and the rest of L-5. It would appear that after having a chance to think about the fact that magic existed, they had come to the conclusion that it was not to be trusted, especially if one of the users of magic happened to be L's suspect.

Neither of them were making any attempt to disguise the fact that they disliked the teens.

_Xenophobes_, L thought in disgust. Close-minded people had always disgusted him. The fact that he was now involved with Light had nothing to do with it.

Matsuda, on the other hand, was acting no different than he did the day before. L almost had to wonder if the man had known about magic existing beforehand, the man was taking it so calmly. In fact, if anything the man was calmer now than he had been the day before.

Soichiro was also absent, for reasons unknown to L.

Aryn sighed. "I _know_ but I'm bored! I don't have anything to do!" She idly scanned the charts that her brother was looking at before she had draped herself over his neck, whining at him, and thought she saw something. "Hey, is it just me, or does it look like there's something going on with that line there?" She pointed at a red line that appeared to be rising steadily. "That's one of the big companies, right? If stock there is going up in value, at least that's what I think this chart's talking about, then wouldn't that mean that something fishy is going on there?"

Light froze, thinking about Aryn's words. He looked closely at the line that Aryn had pointed out, depicting the stock value of one Yotsuba Corporation, then pulled up a different window depicting the stock of various other companies in the past month. And then another window about what the occupations of the newest Kira victims were. And then he stared a little.

Aryn tapped her brother's shoulder cautiously. He'd suddenly done something to the computer, (Aryn didn't know what! She was dyslexic dammit!) then stared at, like, seven different things at once, then his mind had gone the way of Windows operating system. Blue Screen of Death. "Light?" she asked, gaining the attention of the rest of the room's occupants.

Light jerked out of his victory trance, wherein he had been putting the pieces of the puzzle together and figuring out what Rem had done, when Aryn called his name. He swiveled around in his chair and grabbed his sister into a hug. "Aryn, you're awesome!" he yelled, before letting go of her shoulders and holding her at arms length. "You just showed me which company the newest Kira is working for!"

Aryn stared at him, confused. "...I did?" she asked.

Light nodded. "Yes, you did. And now I think you should go and start painting. Remember you said something about painting the Hall? Why don't you go do that? We're going to be talking about this correlation for a while, and you won't be able to understand anything."

Aryn sighed. "Sure," she muttered, eyes glistening. She knew Light didn't want to block her out, and was just thinking about the fact that he would have to keep his mind on the case, rather than constantly explaining what they were looking at to her silently, but damn. She hated this. Fucking dyslexia. Why the hell did she have to deal with this, especially when she knew that in her last life she had been able to read things like this without problems. "I'll go do that. Just let me know what you decide, ne?"

Light stood up and gave his twin a reassuring hug. "Hey, I know you wish you could help. You wouldn't be getting in the way. It's just that we need all our focus on catching Kira."

Aryn nestled her head in Light's shoulder, breathing in the scent of her brother. "Thanks, Light," she said, voice heavy with unshed tears before she let go of him and flashed away to the apartment.

Mello stared at Light for a long time before speaking, far calmer than he normally was. "It's one of those times, isn't it?"

Light sighed, staring at the space where Aryn used to be before nodding tiredly. "Yes, it is. It's really bad right now. You know how she hates feeling useless, and now she has to deal with the fact that she can't help us catch the worst threat to our kingdom besides the War. I'm really worried about her."

Near stood up gracefully. "I'll keep her company."

Light winced, and replied just before Near flashed away. "Just don't leave anything wet and sticky lying around again, please? That's really nasty."

Near nodded and flashed away to join his girlfriend.

Matt sighed heavily and stared at his computer screen for a moment, thinking about how hard it was for Aryn to deal with the fact that, in this technology-oriented age, she was totally unable to read anything. Add the insecurity into that, and Aryn was always at her most fragile when they were working with files like this.

Mello stared at the ceiling, hurting for his friend and honorary sister.

L cleared his throat, the noise sounding far too loud in the silence that had fallen in the wake of Near's disappearance. Everyone jumped. Mogi and Aizawa turned back to their computers with a scowl, while Matsuda kept looking at the ceiling with a frown. "What was it that Aryn-san pointed out to you, Light-kun?"

Light scowled at L. "I thought I told you that all five of us dislike honorifics. Please don't attach honorifics to our names. Anyway, the thing Aryn pointed out to me was the fact that Yotsuba Corporation is the only company whose stock has been steadily rising since the third Kira appeared on the scene."

Matt and Mello simultaneously stood up from their chairs, walked over to Light, and leaned in over his shoulders to look at the screen as Light continued his explanation.

"Most companies have been losing value steadily, since the population is afraid to invest in a company, only to have Kira kill one of the higher members for some sort of crime. So, not only have criminals been dying, the economy of the world is crashing. At first, Kira tended to kill around the world, but now he's mostly killing in Japan."

L rolled his chair over so he could watch the explanation too. Matsuda looked interested, but a glare from Mogi kept him from going over and taking a look too.

"All corporate businessmen, or people closely connected to corporate businessmen. And Japan's economy is pretty much dying. Except for Yotsuba Corp. For a while, see here," Light pointed at a point where Yotsuba's stock had dipped significantly, along with the rest of Japan's companies. "Yotsuba's stock followed the trends. But then," Light's finger traced along the line, showing the stock rising. "as Kira kept on killing businessmen, Yotsuba was left unscarred. People began to buy Yotsuba's stock, because it seemed like Yotsuba was safe."

L frowned, looking at the charts and files that Light had on his screen. That did seem like what had happened, but it was so _obvious_. Was there some sort of trick here?

"That would mean that Kira is attached to Yotsuba Corporation in some way!" Mello said excitedly.

Matt frowned. "Something seems weird though. If it was this easy to see and piece together, why hasn't anyone here done so before?"

L and Light looked at each other silently, each having already come to the same conclusion. Someone was messing with either the perception of the Task Force, or messing with the data on the Kira case. But who?

Mello cleared his throat, jerking L and Light out of their contemplative daze. "Oi! If you two are done," Mello pitched his voice to match a girl's and began batting his eyelashes while clasping his hands to his chest. "_gazing dreamily into each others eyes,_" Mello dropped the act and returned to normal. "IT'D BE A GOOD IDEA FOR US TO FUCKING GET ON WITH THE CASE!"

Light glared at Mello for a moment. "You can be a real bastard sometimes, you know that, Mello?" Light asked while turning back to his computer, minimizing some things and pulling others up. "So, if we look at the files of the most recent victims of Kira, it's fairly obvious that they actually _are_ innocent of the crimes they were accused of. In other words, this Kira has no delusions about stopping the world's population of criminals. It can be concluded, therefore, that this Kira stands to gain a large amount of money by raising Yotsuba's stocks. Most likely, he, or she, but the newest Kira being a male is most likely, holds a high position in the company, as well as owning a fair amount o stock in Yotsuba."

Matt whirled around, away from Light's computer and towards his own, beginning to type frantically.

"I'll try and cut some of the possible suspects out, so that we have a smaller number to investigate." Matt reported as his fingers flew over the keys.

Mogi stared at Matt for a moment, annoyed that his position as second-best with computers (Next to L, who practically _slept_ with computers, of course.) was being taken away, before realizing what he was doing. He turned back to his computer and began desperately trying to think of something to do that wasn't already being done by some of these usurpers. Honestly, _this_ was the group of people who were going to try to catch the worst mass murderer in history? Only one of them was over twenty, and even then it was mildly in question!

Light stared at Matt for a moment, before blanking in. "Okay then. I'd say you do that, but you're already doing it."

Mello snickered. "That's what she said!"

Light glared at Mello. "How was that-" He re-ran what he'd just said and groaned. "Crap, that was bad wording, wasn't it?"

L nodded sagely from his chair, on which he perched as usual. "Yes. Yes it was, Light."

Matt glared at his computer and tried to block out the bickering of his friends. It was really pissing him off, how quickly L was getting accepted by everyone. For fuck's sake, they ruled over at least a million people, and had four different armies snapping for their blood. Not to mention the fact that when humans found out about non-humans, the non-human in question usually ended up in a lab, getting dissected. Or Kira. Can't forget Kira.

The point was, there were too many people out for their bloody, gory death for them to accept someone so quickly. And there was the matter of that presence in L's head. that thing was definitely _not_ on their side, nor was it something Matt would have wanted to come face-to... er... blob with in a dark alley.

Suddenly Matt's wandering attention was jerked back to his computer as code began to change in the coding window Matt had automatically pulled up when he sat down at the computer. Someone else was trying to hack his computer.

"OH _HELL_ NO!" Matt yelled, startling the rest of the room. He didn't care though. He was too busy glaring at the computer as he began to type quickly.

"Matt, you bastard, don't make like Kira and give us all heart attacks," Mello groused. "Fucking _warn_ us next time you're gonna yell at the top of your lungs, asshole."

Matt shifted his gaze to glare at Mello for a moment. "Some bitch just tried to hack my, _MY_, computer, AND YOU WANT ME TO BE CALM!"

Mello winced, knowing how possessive Matt was over his computers. "Sorry man. Just... we like our eardrums, kay?"

Matt twisted back to the screen and resumed typing. "I know. Now, let me get back to hacking."

Aizawa glared at Matt. "Hacking is a federal offense, and you are currently in the presence of four government officials," the afro'ed man pointed out smugly, thinking he'd get a chance to arrest one of the brats who thought that they could do his job better than he did.

Matt didn't even bother looking at Aizawa, just raised his hand in a odd little half-wave. "Hi. Talking to one of the rulers of a huge-ass country here. Diplomatic immunity and all that shit. Plus you can be damn sure that this bitch-man who's insulting me is connected to Kira."

"How is he insulting you, Matt-san?" Matsuda asked curiously before quailing beneath Mogi's fierce glare.

Matt huffed at the screen, not even deigning to answer Matsuda's question. Mello sighed, used to the way things worked between the five rulers. When Matt didn't answer a question that was directed at him, Mello was expected to answer. Matt did the same for Mello, and then Aryn did the same for both her brother and Near. The problem was, Mello _really_ didn't want to talk right now. Talking distracted him from watching Matt when Matt was too busy to notice Mello's stares.

But Mello had to answer. "Whoever it is is trying to muscle their way into Matt's territory. Not-so-well-known-fact on the upper side of the law: Matt is the best hacker in the world, and anyone who tries to cross him is going to find everything they've ever done getting sent to the police. With enough evidence to convict whoever it is, and current addresses, associate's names, everything. You_ don't_ mess with Matt on his territory."

"I still think that destroying someone's life is a going a _little_ overboard," Light griped.

Mello glared at him. "If we let someone get away with such an offense, it sends a bad message to the rest of the world."

Suddenly the room was distracted from the conversation by a triumphant yell from Matt.

"Fuck yeah!"

Mello draped himself over the back of Matt's chair, leaning over his shoulder to look at the screen. "What's up?"

Matt batted at a strand of blond hair that was falling into his face as he smirked in satisfaction. "Caught the bitch and rode her back to the pimp. Sucked him dry. The check is in the mail, from Yotsuba."

Mello laughed outright at the utterly lost expressions of the task force. "I don't think anyone but me and Light have a clue in hell what you just said. And we only have a vague clue cause we've dealt with your messed up metaphors for going on four years now. Care to be nice to them?"

Matt sniffed in disgust. "Newbs." He winced as Mello playfully tugged on a strand of hair. "_Fine_. I'll explain. I caught the trail the wannabe left. Freaking idiot didn't even have a clue how to hide his trail. How the hell did he end up getting into these computers? You'd think that the great L would be able to keep pitiful hackers like that out. Yow!"

Mello smirked at him. "You're getting distracted again. Calm down and explain before you go on a rampage repairing L's security, yeah?"

Matt glared petulantly. "But I like getting distracted!"

Mello snorted. "I'll bet. Just get on with the explanation, kay?"

"Okay. So, I followed the trail the wannabe left, and worked my way into his computers. I downloaded all the files from his computer, and every other computer in that network, and sent them here. From one of the computers at Yotsuba, actually."

Light arched an eyebrow. "Yotsuba? Really? I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I'm not."

Matt smirked viciously. "You didn't ask me _who_ it was," he pointed out.

"I doubt that any criminal could _possibly_ be idiotic enough to leave a camera running while he does something illegal," Aizawa pointed out nastily, sending a subtle jab towards Matt, as there were actually cameras being monitored by Watari set around the room.

"Ah, but," Matt stressed, completely ignoring the insult. "I am _the_ best hacker in the world. It's child's play for me to... say... turn on a computer's camera remotely without the user being able to tell that the camera is on."

Mogi flinched subtly. _He_ certainly couldn't do anything of the sort. His pride was taking a severe beating this morning, with the news that a kid who was no older than the average first year student in high school at the only area he really had any specialized talent in.

Mello scoffed and smacked Matt over the head. "Well? Don't leave us hanging, asshole. Who is it?"

Matt rubbed his head. "I was about to tell you! If you had been patient, I was going to say that I don't know who exactly it is, but given about a minute with the personnel files, I will find out. And those should be arriving in about-" A ding sounded from his computer. "-now. I _can_ tell you that the office I could see behind the dude was _way_ too nice for him not to be high up on the pecking order."

Matsuda frowned. "What does that mean?"

"In other words, what Matt is implying is that the person who attempted to hack into our database, is 99.9% likely to also be Kira," L said, deadpan.

"I see..." Matsuda frowned in thought. "Wouldn't it be dangerous to confront whoever it is though? If he's Kira and all, then anyone who tries to capture him will end up dead."

Light laughed. "No. We know how Kira kills, and we know how Kira's mind works. The main danger is not actually Kira at the moment."

Mello nodded. "It'd be that other Shinigami, the albino one, yeah?"

Matt laughed. "Yeah. The one that's in love with Kuromisa."

"Only not." Light pointed out. "She's in love with what Kuromisa was when she wasn't Kuromisa."

L frowned. "There seems to be something intensely wrong with that sentence."

Light replayed what he'd just said in his head and grinned. "Yet we all knew what I meant, yeah?"

Matsuda frowned. "I didn't." he said timidly, before getting glared at by Mogi.

L turned his gaze on Mogi as Matt turned back to his computer and began searching through the files of the workers at Yotsuba.

"Mogi-san, kindly do not bring xenophobic tendencies in here."

Mogi turned his glare on L. "I'm not bringing 'xenophobic tendencies' in here. I'm understandably nervous about having a group of people that includes the boy you were holding under suspicion of being Kira lead the Kira investigation. Quite frankly, I am fairly sure that most of them are..." He looked at Matt for a moment, typing frantically at his computer, and then at Mello who had fallen off of the back of Matt's chair when Matt spun around and was now lying on the ground staring at the ceiling idly. Light was humming something under his breath as he stared at the computer in front of him. "...mentally disturbed."

L bristled, not that anyone could tell. "Are you attempting to imply something, Mogi-san?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am!" Mogi yelled, coming to his feet. Everyone but Matt turned to look at him in shock, having never seen the man so emotional, and even Mat raised an eyebrow while he continued scanning the personnel files.

"What?" L asked quietly.

"I'm _implying_ that I don't want to work with five freaks who aren't human!"

Matt flinched at the use of the word freaks. Mello rubbed him comfortingly on the back as Matt resumed working on pulling Kira's file out of the company files.

"Especially when they aren't old enough to have even graduated from high school! What proof do we have that these five aren't Kira? You yourself suspected one of them, L! And now you turn around and say that they definitely aren't Kira, and basically hand the case over to them! What are we supposed to think? How are we supposed to know that they haven't... I don't know, taken over your mind or something?" Mogi fell silent, breathing heavily from the force of the emotions he had just exposed.

Mello glared at Mogi venomously, but silently. How dare that bastard bring back such painful memories for Matt? Mello didn't trust himself to speak without attempting to _hurt_ the asshole in front of him.

_This_ was why none of the non-human population of Earth liked to expose themselves to humans. They might make up almost a tenth of the population of the Earth, more on island nations like Japan or Great Britain, but humans still outnumbered them by a lot. And humans almost always reacted badly to the existence of magic. They would bitch and moan about the fact that they didn't have magic, and there was the knee-jerk response of "Oh my God, what if they've magicked me?" Many a foolish Demon or Angel had gotten themselves dissected thanks to a dumb move in revealing their secret. Fairies almost never ended up telling even their partners about their heritage. Some sort of ingrained fear in their race or something. Mello wasn't quite sure.

L looked at Mogi levelly, silently gauging the chances of Mogi accepting a half-assed excuse so that this confrontation could wait until _after_ they'd caught the newest Kira. It was fairly obvious that neither Mogi, nor Aizawa, who looked just as mutinous as Mogi, would accept putting this conversation off.

"I'm going to go get Aryn and Near and hope like hell I don't interrupt something. Then I'm going to rescue Sayu and Kuromisa from Ryuuk. If we're going to have this out, everyone involved needs to be here," Light announced before he flashed away.

Melllo held up a hand to stop Aizawa's protest. "Ap-bup-bup-bup-bup. No. Either all of us are here to prove it to you, or you get your minds wiped of the past day or so, try to figure out where the last day went, and end up one of those wackjobs who goes around convinced that aliens kidnapped them, and then put them back. Which is it?" Ice-blue eyes began to bleed yellow-green as Mello looked around the room.

Matsuda timidly raised his hand. "Umm... I'd prefer the first one." He then flinched as Mogi turned around to look at him. "I don't want to think I've been kidnapped by aliens!" he protested.

Mogi rolled his eyes as he turned around to look at Mello. "I suppose I'll have to take the first option as well."

Aizawa sighed angrily. "For the sake of my wife and kid, I'm going to have to choose to wait. But not too long!"

"Found the bastard!" Matt yelled as he leaned back in his chair. Mello looked at his best friend.

"You found him?"

"Fuck yeah. No way in hell I'm forgetting a mug like _that_ in less than half an hour. Or ever really. Dude's ass-ugly." Matt shuddered slightly. "I think I got his face burned into my retinas, right alongside Beijing."

Mello flinched. "Damn. That bad?" Beijing had to have been the worst fight they'd been in so far, and Mello knew that Matt still had a nightmare or two about what had happened to the humans that had been in the vicinity when the Angels had caught up to the Demons who had stolen a volatile chemical poison. L-5 hadn't gotten there quite quick enough, and too many humans had ended up caught in the crossfire. It was _seriously_ not pretty.

Matt nodded solemnly. "And now the bastard's staring at me!" And the mask of seriousness dropped and Matt dove behind Mello to quiver.

Mello rolled his eyes. Matt could be _such_ a drama queen. Only Light was better than him. Still, Mello figured he'd better at least take a _look_ at the picture Matt was freaking out about so much. Though Mello could tell that Matt was half-joking, so it was probably a good sign. Once he got good enough to joke about Beijing, then Mello could stop having a scared and shaking Matt climb into bed with him at night. That was _not_ making it easy for Mello to hide his feelings for Matt.

Then Mello actually looked at the screen and yelped in shock, backing away from the computer, mind blank.

No, no, NO, _NO, NO!_ The fucker was supposed to be dead! Mello had fucking _seen_ him get blown up!

And then Mello was four years old again, not understanding why his father was hurting his mother so much. Why his mother was pouring gasoline all over the floor and dropping a match onto it while his dad was sleeping. Being bombarded by heat from every side as he screamed for someone to please, _get him out of here!_

* * *

Matt looked up in concern as he felt Mello begin to shake as he backed away slowly from the computer, eyes wide as he emitted small whimpers of distress. Matt quickly dropped his facade of creeped out friend to try and snap Mello out of whatever funk he had sunk into.

"Mel? What's wrong?" Matt asked gently as he touched Mello's shoulder.

Mello whirled around in fright, eyes wide as he stared into the distant past. His whimpers slowly became actual words. In German, Mello's first language, one he never used if he could help it. "No. No. Why? Why did you pour gas all over? Get me out of here!"

Matt felt his heart breaking as his best friend's empty eyes stared into his. "Mel? Where is 'here'? Who poured gas all over?"

Slowly, Matt's voice penetrated Mello's fear-hazed mind. "Matt?" he asked.

Matt smiled in relief, eyes tearing up behind orange goggles. "Yeah. Mind telling me what exactly that was about?"

Mello looked away from Matt and towards the screen, which still displayed the company file on the third Kira. "The name listed on that file isn't that man's real name. His real name, or at least the one he was using for a period of time about sixteen years ago, is Astarot Keehl."

Matt gasped, recognizing the name. Mello had spat it in anger often enough, as he was cursing his father for driving his mother to suicide. He had thought, hell, all of them had thought, that the bastard had been taken out by the fire that claimed his mother's life and left permanent reminders of that night on Mello's back.

Mello nodded slowly, tear-filled eyes locked on Matt's. "That's right. The third Kira, known as Eiichi Takahashi, is my father."

* * *

Right, who saw that one coming? And yeah, Yotsuba Kira isn't Higuchi anymore, cause Higuchi doesn't look anything like Mello, and Takahashi at least has blond hair. (Plus he's the only one of the eight who's dumber than Higuchi.)

Announcement: **I am going on vacation for Thanksgiving next week, and don't want to chance bringing my computer with me, so the next update will be on December 4.**

So yeah, I'm leaving you people with a cliffhanger for two weeks. Aren't I so nice.

Please review!

* * *

Omake: Dead People

* * *

"I see dead people."

Mello turned around and raised his eyebrow at Matt. "What the hell? We're not on Ghost Whisperer."

"Really, I see dead people."

Mello scoffed. "I'm not that gullible, idiot."

"No, really. I see dead people," Matt insisted, eyes narrowed behind his goggles.

"Oh, god," Mello groaned, "Don't tell me you're going psycho on me too."

"I am perfectly sane. Look over to the left."

Mello did so, expecting anything but what he saw.

Six men, hanging from a crude gallows, half-rotted and swinging gently in the wind.

Mello yelped in shock. Matt smirked.

"Told you I saw dead people."


	19. Light's Exasperation & Aryn's Uneasiness

Introductions in this chapter! Again! We learn a bit about Light and Aryn's Angel heritage, L's heritage and Near's vampire heritage. Also Matt/Mello. Or Mello/Matt. They're recalcitrant, so I can't tell who's seme. :pouts:

Oh, and the omake involves Mello getting poked. With a finger, dumbasses. Not whatever you were thinking. Pervs.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything made by someone who is not me.

* * *

**Chapter 19 - Light's Exasperation and Aryn's Uneasiness**

* * *

For a long moment there was silence as the task force tried to register what Mello had just said. L looked at the ceiling, waiting for the coming storm to break, so that explanations could happen. He didn't like having thing like this hanging over his head.

Then Matsuda broke the silence, the same way he had been for the past four days.

THUMP!

The sudden sound of Matsuda falling to the ground comatose snapped everyone else out of their shock.

Mogi knelt by Matsuda and checked him over, worried for his co-worker. It was _not_ normal to faint that many times in such a short time period, no matter how many shocks a person got.

Aizawa began yelling. "YOU SEE? HE'S KIRA'S SON! WE WERE RIGHT TO BE SUSPICIOUS OF THEM! THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM ARE _FREAKS!_ THE BLOND'S PROBABLY SPYING ON US FOR HIS FATHER, AND ONLY PRETENDING TO BE SHOCKED NOW!"

Matt, already tense after learning that his best friend (_crush_) was the son of the newest Kira, saw red when he heard the word freak. He had heard that word spat too many times, in too hateful a tone at too young an age, for him to be able to stand it calmly. And then the bastard had the audacity to say that Mello might be a spy for _Kira?_ Matt lost it. One moment he was staring at Mello, thinking about what he'd just learned, and the next he was standing over Aizawa, who was now laid out on the floor.

Mogi jerked to his feet as he saw the red-head with animal ears punch his friend hard enough that he flew backwards. He let Matsuda fall to the floor as he stalked angrily over to the hacker and punched him in the jaw. Or rather, he tried to.

Matt saw the only human in the room that was still fully conscious come at him angrily and automatically threw his weight backwards onto his hands as he swept his legs, hooking on of Mogi's and sending the older man to the floor. Mogi wheezed as he tried to get his breath back.

It was this point that Light flashed back into the room with the remainder of the absent members of L-5 Extended. He stared at the sight that met his eyes.

Matt was standing over the prostate body of one of Soichiro's better friends (who was thankfully, still awake, just had the wind knocked out of him), rage welling in his eyes. Matsuda was unconscious on the floor, _again_, and Aizawa was staring at the ceiling glassy-eyed. L was halfway out of his chair, presumably to stop whatever was going on. Mello was staring into nothing with an uncharacteristically vulnerable expression on his face and there was a picture of a vaguely familiar blond man on the computer Matt had been working on.

"Holy shit," Aryn muttered. "Was it like this when you left?"

Light shook his head slowly. "No it wasn't."

Misa frowned. "What could have happened?"

Near looked at Misa impassively. "Given the hostility the task force has been exhibiting throughout the morning, and the fact that Mogi is the one who demanded answers the most, it would be logical to assume that he said something unwise that ignited Matt's temper. That does beg the question of what though. Matt isn't one to truly lose his temper, unless in the middle of a battle."

Matt glared at Near, stalking back to his chair and sitting down with a huff. "Shut up asshole. Don't make assumptions about things you don't know anything about."

"And what don't I get, Matt?" Near asked.

"Well, there's the fact that Aizawa just said that Mello might be a spy for Kira. Then there's the fact that he just called us all freaks. It might be because Mello just got called a spy for Kira. Or it might be the fact that Astarot Keehl is alive, despite what Mello saw twelve years ago," Matt explained sarcastically. Mello flinched slightly at the reminder of his father's apparent non-death. "Need I go on? I think it should be clear by now _exactly_ how much the last few minutes sucked."

Aryn caught something. "Did you just say that Aizawa called Mello a spy for Kira? Why would he think that?"

Mello flinched again. Matt caught the slight movement and pulled Mello down into one of the chairs next to him, running his fingers through Mello's hair. It was one of the few sure-fire ways to calm Mello down from anything. Not even chocolate got him as calm as having Matt finger-comb his hair.

Matt sighed in irritation at Aryn's lack of tact, and accidental hurting of his best friend. He gestured to the computer, which was still displaying the face of Yotsuba's Vice President of Material Planning. "The file on this computer? Yeah, it's the file of wannabe hacker, the one who's almost certainly Kira. Eiichi Takahashi is the name he goes by now. We know of him by a different name. Take a look at the picture, think about what else has been said since you guys got here, and see if you can tell me the name we know him as."

Light took a look at the computer and gasped in shock. Mello had let him see a few of his earlier memories, so that Light could help him heal from the mental scars that his bastard father had left him, and he recognized the face staring at him from the computer.

"But... I thought he was dead?" Light asked Mello uncertainly.

No one noticed Matsuda wake up from his shocked faint and begin watching the proceedings.

"So did I," Mello said bitterly. He stood up and punched the wall. L jerked involuntarily forward, wanting to protest the damage to his property, but thought the better of his abortive action. "Damn it!" Mello hissed. "I _saw_ the asshole get burned to a crisp, heard his screams as he burnt, I fucking _smelled_ it! I was only four at the time, but you _don't_ imagine something like that. So how the hell did he manage to fake it? It was too fucking _real_ to have been an illusion."

Matt sighed. "Well, just standing around here isn't gong to do anything about getting rid of Kira, and getting some answers. If you ask me, it's time we get out of here and kick some corporate ass."

Mogi sat up, finally managing to get some air into his lungs. That kid could _punch_. "What about our answers?"

Sayu shrieked loudly and grabbed onto Misa's arm. "ZOMBIE!"

Light stared at his adopted sister for a moment. "Sayu, Matt didn't kill the dude. Just knocked the air out of him. _Chill_."

"Right," Sayu said sheepishly. "I knew that."

"Right..." Matt said dubiously, before spinning his chair around to look at Mogi. "So... I suppose we should give you an explanation as to how you can trust that we aren't working for Kira. Hmm, how should we go about this guys?" Matt looked around for answers, suddenly registering the fact that Aizawa most likely had a concussion. "Crap! I'll fix that really quick first!"

Light darted forward before Matt could and laid his hand on Aizawa's forehead. Mogi started forward to stop the teen from doing... whatever it was he was doing, but he was too slow. A loud crackle and the smell of burnt sugar filled the air.

Aizawa stirred. "Ugh, my head," the afro'ed man muttered. Light laughed.

"Yes, well, that _is_ kind of the general reaction of those who manage to really piss Matt off," Light said.

Aizawa stiffened. "Yagami... get away from me."

Mello snickered, coming out of his funk. "What, afraid he's gonna rape you? Don't worry, Light doesn't go for your type."

Aizawa glared at the blond teen. "What happened?" he asked after a moment.

"You pissed Matt off. Word of advice, do _not_ use the word freak in Matt's vicinity. He has bad memories associated with that word," Light explained as he helped Aizawa to his feet.

Mello smacked Light over the head.

"Ow!" Light exclaimed, glaring at Mello. "What the hell, Mello?"

"You don't need to give away _all_ of our secrets to every human we talk to, just cause we've decided to let a few more people in," Mello explained angrily. "Remember the Johnsons?"

Light winced. The trusting family of mice demons really had no business having to hide their natures, and should have stayed in Hell, even if they hated war. Maybe then they wouldn't be dead at the hands of human scientists.

Near spoke up. "Regardless of the Johnsons, the fact of the matter is, we decided to trust Soichiro's judgement long ago and, even if this might not be the most ideal of circumstances, he did suggest that we inform Aizawa, Mogi and Matsuda of the truth of the matter. So, as a matter of fact, Mello, if they were to turn us over to scientists, not only would we possibly be forced to harm the scientists greatly, they would be aware that they had grossly deceived their chief regarding their character. From the way they gravitated towards Soichiro the day before yesterday, they respect him greatly, and the knowledge that they had so hurt him would probably be nearly incapacitating."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Near, honestly, freaking _stop_ it with the over-analyzing. We get it. We should feel safe telling them things, and we should get on to proving that Mello isn't a spy for Kira, so we can go after the actual Kira. You don't have to talk the subject to death."

Aryn smiled, swinging her arm around Near's shoulders. "Aww, but I love to hear him talk something to death!" she protested in mock-disappointment.

Sayu laughed. "Aryn-nee-chan, you're not fooling anyone. You just like to shut Near-nii-chan up when he goes off on a tangent."

Misa frowned. "Why is it that everyone is so open about things like that? Misa doesn't _remember_ Redzsaz-taichou or Balbdas-taichou being this open two years ago."

Aryn glanced at Misa, startled. "That's right, I keep forgetting you'd lost your memories and have been lost for two years. To answer your question, Kuromisa, we're more open because we're not at the Court. There, we have to worry about being stabbed in the back, or an attack, or being seen as weak. Too many strong, power-hungry beings there. We can't afford to leave our emotions out on our sleeves. But here, we aren't surrounded by those who would happily kill us and take our places if they thought that we were weakening. We can actually be ourselves. Of course," Aryn grinned. "the fact that we share a mind helps. Even if it's hard for us to concentrate enough to actually _use_ the link when we're all together, it's kind of hard to have any form of modesty when the majority of the other people inhabit the same mental space as you."

Mogi choked slightly. Misa looked over at him. "Oh yeah, Light-taichou mentioned that you people were supposed to be getting an explanation! Why do we keep not giving you the explanation?"

Light palmed his face. "First of all, Kuromisa, how many times do I have to tell you not to use the word taichou with my name?"

"But you are!" Misa pouted. "You've been taichou for almost seven years now! How is Misa supposed to stop thinking of you as taichou, now that she remembers that you are Misa's taichou?"

Sayu stared at her. "....That sentence made no sense, but yet it did. How?"

"Excuse me?" Matsuda interrupted. "But Misa-Misa wasn't calling you taichou a week ago, and now she is, and she's talking about knowing you for seven years. How?"

Light sighed. "I think we need to explain now. Regardless of what else we want to do."

L nodded. "Yes, I do believe that would be a good idea, Light. Aizawa-san especially appears to be coming within an inch of a heart attack, and we are currently trying to explain why you_ aren't _Kira. Giving someone a heart attack would not be conducive to such an action."

Mello rolled his eyes. "No shit, Sherlock. You guys are right though."

"All right!" Aryn yelled. "Explanation time!" She glared around the room. "Everyone sit down, so we can explain!" Everyone sat. A forceful Aryn was an Aryn to be obeyed at all costs.

"Okay. So, the first thing we should probably do is introduce ourselves with our _full_ titles." Aryn began. She looked around expectantly. No one volunteered to go first. Aryn huffed. "Fine then, I'll go." She looked at the task force, voice falling into the lilting cadence of the Court. "I am Lady Aryn Redszaz Arget Yagami Suino, primary fighter in the War of the Realms, former Seraphim, and co-ruler of the Earth's population of sentient non-humans. Head of the Arget family and heir apparent for the Suino clan."

Near spoke up. "I am Lord Near Nate River Tieva Tepes, also a primary fighter in the War of the Realms, the last descendant of Draculea, and the Lady Aryn's consort."

"Prince Mello Mihael Keehl Illanov. Primary fighter in the War. Heir to one of the sub-branches of the Russian Mafiya. Second in line for the position of ruler of the Earth's sentient non-humans." Mello introduced himself lazily, taking a bite of chocolate. He wasn't really getting enough chocolate recently, and it was beginning to get to him, along with the fact that he'd just recently learned that, not only was his father alive, he was Kira.

Matt rolled his eyes as expectant eyes turned to him. Why did everyone always expect that he would go immediately after Mello? Well, he supposed he usually did. Regardless of his annoyance, he introduced himself. "Prince Matt Mail Jeevas Hakkeh. Primary fighter in the War of Realms, first in line for the role of ruler of the sentient non-humans of Earth."

Aizawa, Mogi and Matsuda were beginning to look a bit like they'd reached the point of Windows Blue Screen of Death. And the _really_ surprising ones hadn't even introduced themselves yet!

Light smirked. They were surprised already, were they? They hadn't seen anything yet! So what if they were in the presence of royalty? Aryn had very carefully avoided the topic of who their original Angel father was, knowing how much Light enjoyed shocking people with that little fact.

"Lord Light Balbdas Yagami Arget Suino. Fifth primary fighter. Co-ruler of the sentient non-humans of Earth. Lord of the Suino clan and one of two remaining descendants of Gabriel, the first Angel to discover the human Realm."

If the task force had looked shocked before, now they looked like someone had brained them with a shower head. (Yes, Light did know what a person getting brained with a shower head looked like. Near did not always use conventional methods to knock people out.) Light knew for a fact that Aizawa, at least, was Christian, and so knew what significance an Angel named Gabriel held to the human world. And what the implications of being Gabriel's son were.

L spoke up next, to prevent the shocked silence from growing any heavier. "I am L, as you all know. My actual name is Lawliet. Just two days ago I discovered that I am also half Fairy."

"Correction," Light interrupted. "You are the Fairy _prince_, who just so happens to be half-human. When dealing with royal families, it is always that you are whatever position, and then any other bloodlines are 'just so happens to be' whatever. Also, I just realized, you don't know the clan name you are entitled to as the last remaining heir. You would be Prince Lawliet LeFaye."

And now L joined the legions of the shower-head-brained. He might not know a large amount about British mythology, but even the most dense British citizen had heard of Morgan LeFaye. And he was her... whatever-generational descendant?

Light smirked. "Damn, I love shocking people like that."

Aryn smacked him over the head. "Oi! You should've let Sayu and Kuormisa introduce themselves first!"

Sayu shook her head. "It's okay, Aryn-nee-chan. I don't mind introducing myself to a bunch of brain-dead people." She turned to the aforementioned brain-dead people. "I'm Sayu Yagami, and I'm just a normal kid, who just so happened to have awesome luck in terms of adoptive older brothers."

Misa grinned. "Misa's turn! Misa's full name is Kuromisa Yukina. She is one of the higher Ladies of the Court, and the sole surviving member of the Yukina family. The last full incubus in this Realm. Amane is the name she was using, as protection from the Lord who murdered Misa's parents."

THUMP!

Matsuda broke the silence in the way that was quickly becoming his signature move.

Sayu looked at the man in concern. "Is there some sort of chemical imbalance in his brain that makes him faint all the time? He's like a goat!"

Misa giggled. "Misa's seen those videos. The American fainting goats, right?"

Sayu frowned. "I don't think the goats are American, but I do know that all the videos are in English."

Aryn shook her head and smacked them both upside the head.

"Hey!" Sayu and the blonde model cried at once in indignation. Aryn sniffed.

"Well, you shouldn't've gotten sidetracked then. Matt," She turned to the red-head. Matt gulped at the commanding look in Aryn's eyes. "you'll wake Matsuda up and fix it so he won't faint again, right?"

Matt nodded quickly, laying a hand on Matsuda's forehead. Again, the smell of burning sugar filled the air. Matsuda stirred, freezing as he felt a hand on his forehead.

"It's okay," Matt assured the nervous detective. "You just fainted. _Again_. Don't worry, it shouldn't be happening anytime soon. I fixed whatever's going on in your brain that's making you faint so often."

"O...kay?" Matsuda asked.

Mello glared slightly. Why was it that everyone but him was getting to have Matt touch them? And dammit, he was starting to sound like a schoolgirl with a crush! But it just _wasn't fair._

Aryn rolled her eyes at the obvious anger wafting off of Mello. Honestly, if those two didn't get a clue sometime soon, she was going to just lock them in a closet.

"_Anyway_, let's go on to explain the rest, okay?" Light said, killing the rather awkward silence that was attempting to latch on to the group of twelve. (L-5, plus the task force, plus Sayu, Misa and L, plus Ryuuk made twelve, even if three of the people couldn't see the twelfth (who was actually being worryingly quiet).) And was Light just thinking in brackets within brackets? Light decided he didn't really want to know.

Near nodded. "Yes, I do believe that would be a good idea, Light. We have kept these three good men waiting on our explanation for far too long already."

Everyone settled down ("Finally," Aizawa sighed in relief.), and began to explain the whole hairy mess to the three humans. There were several points where Matsuda looked like he wished he were able to faint, most notably at the point when Ryuuk was introduced and Kira explained to the task force. But he stayed conscious throughout. For once.

Throughout the explanation, it was obvious that the task force was warming up to the idea of magic, and the thought that so much of the world _was_ magical.

For a moment after L-5 finished their explanations of the past four days, there was silence. Which, once again, Matsuda broke, though not in his customary manner.

"So... what you are saying is that Kira is some sort of evil spirit in a notebook that possesses people?" Matsuda asked curiously.

Light winced. "I wouldn't... phrase it exactly like that, but essentially, yes. The worst mass murderer the world has ever seen is a sentient notebook, carried by a Shinigami."

Aizawa frowned. "What I still don't get is why five kids are ruling over more than a million people the world over."

Mello rolled his eyes. "Because, a, we're the five strongest beings on Earth when it comes to magical power, and, b, Light and Aryn have memories of their past life, and have for the past four years. In other words, mentally they are roughly five hundred or something, even they aren't too sure, as opposed to their physical age of eighteen."

Aryn shuddered. She _really_ hated being reminded of how old she was, exactly, when she was around Near. It made her feel like a pedophile or something. She knew Light would be feeling the same way now that he'd found someone as well. It was not a pleasant feeling, nor one that she voluntarily set herself up to feel. She glared at Mello.

He looked at her in exasperation. "Look, Ar, I know how bringing up your mental age makes you feel, but the plain fact is, if you didn't have those memories, there's no way in hell that the five of us would still be alive. In case you forget, if you and Light hadn't managed to wake up those memories, the crash that gave us our mind-link would've been the end of us. And even if, by some miracle, we had managed to escape, you and Light being unaware would have eventually driven Matt crazy because he wouldn't know how to change on the full moon. Near would've been driven crazy by bloodlust by age eighteen, or else isolated himself entirely from society and I would've become reckless and likely have ended up getting myself killed with some sort of hare-brained plot that could only end up failing. Trust me, none of us care that you're so much older than us."

Aryn sighed, knowing that what Mello was true. If it weren't for Light and her getting their memories back, none of the five of them would likely have survived to see twenty. But that fact didn't stop her from feeling like a dirty old pervert when she let herself think about things like that.

Sayu sighed. "I'm bored. Isn't there something to do?"

Everyone looked at her in shock, surprised that a person could think about being bored when such shocks were being presented left and right. Then again, when Aryn thought about it, the girl had lived with such shocks for a large portion of her life. Things like this _were_ par for the course in the Yagami household. And the area immediately surrounding the Yagami house. And the hospital dedicated to magical mishaps. And every other area of Tokyo affected in some way, shape or form by magic.

...In other words, the police force was probably one of the only parts of Tokyo that actually had no clue about shocks like this, for whatever reason. Maybe they were just too removed from the main part of the city in their work, but the police were probably the last part of Tokyo to end up figuring out that _something_ was up. Even if the ordinary people had no idea what.

Then again, most government agencies in... most countries that Aryn and the others had ever dealt with had no clue about what 'everyone knew'. Like some of those bastardized songs that children the world over knew, even though there was no way in hell that the adults would broadcast them in a way that the kids could find. Magic and the fact that something was screwy with the official world-view of the scientists was just something that everyone knew, and therefore the government had no clue.

And Aryn didn't think that line of reasoning would have made sense to anyone but her.

"Oh yeah," Light said, remembering what the task for the day was going to be before the task force had ended up getting so hostile and demanding explanations. "We were going to try to figure out the identity of Kira, but we've already done that. Next step would be to sneak our way into Yotsuba and scope things out. The Kiras we've dealt with so far were just shades, and not actually in a body. We don't know what a Kira-presence would be able to do if it _is_ in a body. But how should we infiltrate Yotsuba?"

Sayu huffed in annoyance and walked out of the room, Ryuuk on her heels. Both were bored and had no interest in cat-and-mouse games like the one currently playing out between L-5 and Kira.

Everyone fell silent fora moment, thinking about the problem. Then Misa spoke up.

"Umm... Misa is still a model, yeah? Like, the public doesn't know that Misa was taken in under the suspicion of being Kira." Misa asked, frowning thoughtfully.

"Yes. Misa is still a model, and as far as the public, or anyone really, knows, Misa is taking a small vacation, the stress of her parent's deaths plus the weight of having a full-time career having gotten to her, leading to her manager to tell Misa to take a vacation for as long as she wants, provided that she does return within the year," L replied, shocking the task force with how careful he had been to make sure that no one was aware of potentially career-damaging facts, such as being suspected by Kira.

Near's eyes widened as the implications of having a famous model working with them quickly became apparent."

Misa nodded decisively, apparently coming to a decision. "Well then, it's obvious how to get into Yotsuba!"

Matsuda frowned. "What are you talking about, Misa-Misa?"

"Well-" Misa began, but was interrupted by Near. Misa glared.

"I believe what Misa-san is trying to get at is the fact-" Near began explaining. Aryn picked upon his trail of thought and completed it for him.

"-that, with a model on the team, it would be easy to contact Yotsuba, pretend to be interested in getting a job of some sort with them, and then sneak off to find information." Aryn finished grinning triumphantly.

L nodded slightly, trying to figure out why he hadn't thought of that possibility. Three teenagers should _not_ be better able to think of espionage plans than the world's three greatest detectives.

Then again, L decided, catching sight of the dual frowns on Light and Matt's faces, maybe some of the other teens didn't quite approve. (L had decided to carefully block out of his memory the fact that Light and Aryn had enough experience at life to dwarf even the oldest octogenarians.) From what he had seen, Light and Matt were the ones who worried the most about the people who might end up... affected by the antics of L-5.

That currently being a rather large portion of the world, L could see their concern in attempting to follow through with a plan that had such a large chance of turning out wrong.

Then again, L knew that if Aryn and Near got Light onto their side, he would support them whole-heartedly. Light was the sort of person who was either all-for something or totally against it. Matt would be almost surely forced to help if Light changed his mind.

"Oh _hell_ no!" Matt said emphatically.

"What's wrong, Matt?" Aryn asked, surprised. She had no idea why Matt was so angry.

Matt huffed in exasperation. "Has it occurred to you three that if we do go through with this plan, Kuromisa and whoever all goes with her will be in extreme danger? What if the jack-ass-hole finds us snooping around?" Matt glared at Aryn. "We're dead, that's what!"

Near looked at Matt levelly. "And how, exactly, is that any different from what we do on a regular basis in the War?"

Matt faltered for a moment. Light jumped in to his defense. "In case you hadn't noticed, the first time you three were allowed to join Aryn and me in a battle was only two years ago,_ after we knew you would be able to defend yourselves_. I know that Shinji and Kyukei were emphatic about Kuromisa _not_ growing up forced to use her knowledge of how to fight, even if she did learn a few martial arts. And besides, we don't know how to defend ourselves against killer notebooks! Besides, jack-ass-hole doesn't even work in the same department as the one that would be dealing with Kuromisa! It'd be pointless!"

Aryn looked momentarily stunned. She opened her mouth to say something in response to Light's tirade, paused, and closed her mouth again. There really was nothing she could think of to say to that.

Near could think of something, however. "Light, please remember that the rest of us aren't idiots just because we don't happen to have hundreds of years of extra experience with things like this."

Light looked at Near in confusion. "I'm not, Near. I'm just saying that there's too high a risk. Kuromisa is the last incubus on Earth, and the rest of us are too damn powerful for the Court to be able to spare, whatever the Lords seem to think."

Mello flared up at Light's stupidity. He didn't particularly like the thought of them getting into Yotsuba in such an _obvious_ manner but he could see where Near was coming from. Light _did_ occasionally act a bit like the three of them were too naive to be able to make informed decisions. "That's not what he's saying, you ass! He's saying that you're acting like we can't choose whether or not we will put our lives on the line. Probably not even that! You really think that the jack-ass-hole is going to kill us immediately if he finds us? No. He's more likely to end up trying to capture us and find out how we know that he's Kira." Mello subsided slightly when Matt put a hand on his shoulder and began to talk.

Matt looked at Mello in slight disappointment. "Mello, you're not thinking rationally. You've just had a horrible shock, finding out that your father is still alive, and now you want to do something about that. But you can't just rush in without thinking. That's how people get killed, Mello. Not thinking."

"I'm thinking!" Mello protested, not looking at Matt. He knew it had sounded like he was in favor of the plan, when he really wasn't. He just hated it when Light acted like Near, Matt and he were too young to be able to make a decision about something like this for themselves.

"No," Light said. "You're not thinking it through all the way. There are only five of us who can rule. Yes, we risk our lives in the War nearly very day, but that's different. We're the only ones who can do that too. This... anyone could do. We're _not_ going to let ourselves get killed on a mission that anyone could do."

Near and Aryn had, by this point, seen the reasoning behind Matt and Light's vehement refusal of the plan, but were determined to bring them around to their point of view. The task force decided that, if they had any regard for their lives whatsoever, it would be better to stay out of this fight. L could see where the argument was going to end up going anyway, and saw no need to intervene, knowing that they would end up going through with the plan.

Mello opened his mouth to respond, but Matt cut him off. "Please, Mel." Mello turned around to find, to his surprise, that Matt's eyes were slightly teary. Not enough that most people would have noticed behind his goggles, but Mello wasn't most people. He knew Matt well enough to see the tears that Matt would never actually let fall. And it hurt. It frigging _hurt_ and Mello was hurting too, knowing how badly Matt was misunderstanding his feelings and opinions and knowing that Matt thought he didn't care about the risks, because he did.

"Please what?" Mello asked after it became clear that Matt had lost his trail of thought.

Matt sighed heavily. "Mel, this is more dangerous than any battle. We have no way to fight back, no way to keep ourselves safe if we're found out. And I..." Matt trailed off, not knowing how to say what he wanted to say next.

"And you...?" Mello asked, not daring to hope.

Aryn shifted uncomfortably. It was obvious where this was going to end up going, and it seemed like she wasn't going to have to lock those two into a closet, but dang! She hadn't known how uncomfortable it was to watch a moment like this, one that should have been private.

"...I don't want to lose you." Matt finished softly, looking away from Mello's eyes in shame. Mello a never given any indication of being gay, let alone having the same sort of feelings for Matt as Matt did for him, and here Matt was, basically saying that he loved Mello. Hell, Mello was going to hate him for this, Matt just knew it!

Mello gently grasped Matt's chin, turning Matt's head so he was looking into Matt's eyes again. "It's okay," he murmured, leaning in closer to Matt. "You don't have to worry about anything." Their breath was mingling and Matt's heart was racing so fast he wouldn't have been surprised if it burst. There was no way that Mello meant what Matt thought -was hoping, desperately - that he meant.

"I'll never leave you." Mello whispered, an instant before their lips met.

Matt's eyes widened in shock, before fluttering closed in bliss. Mello's lips didn't feel anything like what he'd thought they'd feel like, they felt better. They were slightly chapped, and Matt could feel the barest hint of fangs through the glamour Mello was wearing out of courtesy for the humans and L, who couldn't manifest his wings.

Matt ran his tongue hesitantly over Mello's lips. They tasted like chocolate, and fire, and something else that was just _Mello_. Mello moaned slightly into Matt as he parted his lips. Matt was sure he'd died, because there was no way that all (well, most) of his fantasies were coming true. Mello was just too... _Mello_ to ever feel for Matt the way Matt did for Mello. But Matt could feel Mello through the bond (even if faintly), and Mello was just as ecstatic with this moment as he was. So, Matt decided to make the best of what must be a moment of insanity on Mello's part, knowing that there was a good chance Mello would hate him for it later. He deepened the kiss.

Aryn stood up as the boys went from just gentle kissing to full-blown making out. "Okay!" she said, "I think it's time for us to leave." Aryn pushed the other seven people in the room out. Everyone complied mutely, leaving the two teens some privacy for the discussion that was sure to follow.

* * *

Aryn looked at the others once they reached another room of computers. "Light, you and Matt are the only ones who were refusing to even consider the possibility of using Kuromisa as a way to get into Yotsuba, right?"

Light nodded. "I think so."

"No," Mogi spoke up, for the first time since the explanation was finished. "I know that I'm fairly uncomfortable with the idea, and I think that Aizawa-san and Matsuda-san are too."

Aizawa and Matsuda nodded their agreement. Aryn sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, give me a chance to explain a bit, please."

Light leaned back in a chair. "Okay, then. Tell me how you think that we could possibly end up doing this in a way that wouldn't have the largest possibility of us ending up dead."

Aryn shook her head in exasperation. Near decided that it would probably be better for him to explain.

"Light, you're able to control what people can see somewhat, correct?"

Light frowned. "Yeah, but what does that... Oh." He grinned sheepishly. "Damn, I'm n idiot for not thinking of that, aren't I?"

Aryn laughed and smacked Light over the back of the head. "Yes you are! Think things through before you start bitching at people, ne?"

Light laughed ruefully. "Okay, so I'd be going along, probably as Misa's 'manager', since I can't make myself invisible, only other people. Who else?"

"Misa, of course!" Misa exclaimed, bouncing slightly at the thought of helping to catch Kira.

"Matt would probably also be useful," Near pointed out. "A first-rate hacker can always be used in a case like this."

Aryn nodded. "Who else? Or is that enough?"

"I too, would like to go," L said. "And I would probably be able to see something that the others might miss."

"Maybe you should bring Ryuuk-san along with you?" Matsuda asked timidly.

Near nodded thoughtfully. "A Shinigami would be of great use to us. Especially if we de-solidify him and make it so he won't be seen by anyone at Yotsuba."

"Okay then, so Light's going to be cloaking both L and Matt. He and Kuromisa will both be visible. Ryuuk will be going along, but Light won't need to cloak him." Aryn summarized.

Everyone nodded. Aryn grinned. "Alright then! Let's get ready to infiltrate Yotsuba!"

* * *

Yeah... crappy plan. I couldn't think of anything better though.

What do you guys think of Matt and Mello's kiss? Could you see the cop-out at the end? I _am not_ good at writing romantic scenes. At least not in my mind.

And I _had_ to come up with some reason that Matsuda was making like the fainting goats. So I did, even if it's way too vague.

* * *

**Omake: DN Fan In The Real World Meets Matt And Mello

* * *

**Mello and Matt were walking aimlessly down the street, taking a break from working on the Kira case. Thankfully, they'd been able to stop the public's knowledge of the continuing killings, so everyone thought that Kira had been some short-lived terrorist group.

Suddenly, a teenage girl crossed the street and stopped in front of them, staring at them.

"Blond bob, check. Chocolate bar, check. Ever-present red-headed shadow/friend, check. Best friend's cigarette, check. Orange goggles on best friend's face, check," she muttered to herself, frowning slihgtly. Mello and Matt tensed up, ready to run.

Suddenly, the girl stepped forward and poked Mello. "Po-ki."

She frowned again, before poking Mello again. "Po-ki."

She began poking Mello repeatedly, accompanied each time by that odd noise. "Po-ki. Po-ki. _Po-ki. Po-ki. Po-ki! Po-ki! PO-KI! PO-KI! _Why. Aren't. You. Dis. App. Earing!" the girl wailed. "You're anime characters! You shouldn't be here! You should have gone poof when I poked you!"

Matt and Mello exchanged confused glances. What was wrong with this chick?

She froze. "Oh no. Not again. I thought the doctor said that the drugs would make this stop! I don't want to go back to the insane asylum! Dammit!"

Matt and Mello backed away slowly. When they had reached about a hundred feet away from the hysterical teenager, they turned tail and ran.

Later, when they were back at the Mafia's headquarters, Matt turned to Mello.

"What the hell was that about?"

Mello shook his head. "I have no damned clue."


	20. Matt's Acting and L's Silence

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. What are you talking about? Why would I own Death Note? I'm not famous or anything. Moreover, how would I have made Death Note if I have problems creating characters and sticking to their personalities?

* * *

**Chapter 20 - Matt's Acting and L's Silence**

* * *

_I don't like this,_ Matt mind-whispered to Mello as he stared at the blueprints of the Yotsuba building that his computer was currently displaying. It wouldn't do for the newly trusting humans to think that Matt didn't actualy want to catch Kira, so Matt didn't speak out loud, despite how difficult it was for him to concentrate hard enough to use the link when he was so close to Mello. Especially with the fact that the link tended to produce feedback when used too much in close proximity.  
_  
I'll try to find a way to come with you, okay, Matt?_ Mello responded. _I don't think that you should go alone. Not with what we know about L._

Matt shivered at the thought of what might happen should the presence in L realize what Matt knew and decide to do away with him.

Mello rubbed Matt's hand comfortingly, knowing how much Matt hated to be forced to do things like this, where there was a large chance of disaster the world over if things went wrong.

Like now.

Mello seethed, remembering how the others had convinced Matt to go along with them in their plan. They had _ambushed_ his Matt (Just after he and Mello had stopped making out long enough to talk things out and realize that yes, both of them did, in fact, want a relationship at that!) and multiple-teamed him so badly that Matt's eyes were spinning after only half a minute. Finally he'd agreed out of desperation, just to get them to _stop talking_, and instantly evil smirks had spread across the faces of Matt's tormentors. Misa had squealed about being 'so happy that Matt-taichou was willing to put himself on the front lines in such a dangerous way!' A look of horror had fallen onto Matt's face as he realized what exactly he had just agreed to.

And then the plan... It wasn't anything like what Mello had thought of, and it seemed to have more holes than a damn piece of Swiss cheese. What the hell were they thinking, putting his Matt into that much danger?

There was no way in hell that Matt and L were going to be able to sneak into Kira's office, hack his computer, find some sort of incriminating information, possibly steal the Death Note, and get out, all without being noticed. No offense to his Matt, but it was just too damn _much_. And L didn't have as much experience with surveillance missions as Matt, so was almost guaranteed to mess things up.

And of course the bloody damn idiot geniuses that formed some of the world's most influential people _forgot_ that Light could only mess with what people saw _when he was in their presence._ And what were the chances of them being taken to the office of the Vice President of Material Planning when they were going to be going in under the pretense of looking for a job, really? God, Mello sometimes thought that he and Matt were the only ones who had any common sense in the group! And L was supposed to be the best detective in the world! Regardless of whatever fricked up things living in his head, L should be able to see how easy it would be for this plan to go belly-up.

Matt leaned his head on Mello's shoulder. Mello draped an arm over Matt's shoulder, knowing how much Matt needed comfort right now. Matt sighed in contentment, eyes fluttering closed.

Aryn cleared her throat. "If you two lovebirds are done, can we please get on to discussing the plan now?"

Mello rolled his eyes. "Like you and Near aren't worse than us," he muttered, knowing Aryn would still be able to hear him, before raising his voice. "Yes, let's hear all about this _plan_ of yours."

"Well, you don't have to say it like that, like you think it's going to end up some sort of utter disaster," Aryn sniffed, offended.

Matt rolled his eyes. "Just tell us the plan, Aryn. I, for one, am not fully participating in this voluntarily, and therefore _really_ want to know about this plan that I got volunteered into. So as I can, you know, try and fix it so there's less chance of people dying and all. I know for a fact that you three tend to jump ahead to the results slightly, getting a little too confident and ending up utterly bollocksing up your plot. So, Mello and I, as the only ones in possession of a wonderful thing called Common Sense in this group, will have to tweak it a bit and get it to the point where it's not a complete suicide mission." By the end of this rant, Matt was speaking very quickly, having wanted to get that sentiment off of his chest for a while, and therefore having had ample time to semi-memorize what he was going to say.

Everyone in the room, aside from Ryuuk (who didn't really understand the human concept of 'breathing' anyway, and therefore didn't understand why everyone was so startled), stared at the red-head in shock.

"What?" Matt asked irritably.

"Was Matt aware that his mini-rant was expelled all in one breath?" Near asked after a long moment.

Matt blinked at Near. "What are you talking about? I know I breathed at least once while I was ranting."

Mello shook his head, looking at Matt admiringly. "No, Matt, you didn't."

Matt frowned. "Well, that can't be right. There's no way that I could possibly have said all that without taking at least one breath. I mean, yeah, I suppose I didn't take quite as many breaths as are _healthy_ but can't have taken _none_."

Aryn shook her head in amusement. "Dammit, Matt, we've talked about this. No, you can't steal my skill with air just cause you wanna talk fast. Anyway!" She slammed her fist down on the table, startling everyone else in the room into jumping. (Not off a roof or something, just jumping in their seats.) "Let's talk about the plan, which _some people_," She turned an angry eye on Matt and Mello. "seem determined to hate. So, the basics are that, using Misa's career as a model as an excuse, we will be sneaking L and Matt into the Yotsuba building while Light keeps the other people nearby from actually seeing them. They will then make their way to Eiichi Takahasi's office and find the Death Note, subsequently confiscating it, hopefully finding some proof as to the fact that Takahashi is, in fact, Kira, because you know that Interpol is going to be demanding that L hand over Kira to them. Then, you will make your way out of the building, without being seen.

"Ryuuk will be creating a distraction to get you away. His secondary task is to make contact with the other Shinigami, and explain the entirety of the situation to her, but his primary task is to create a distraction. Preferably with killing anyone. Ryuuk, objects that appear to be floating in midair are your friend. Now," Aryn leaned back in her seat, surveying the other occupants of the room. "does anyone have any suggestions as to how to change the plan at all?"

* * *

Matt sighed in frustration as he strode (supposedly) confidently down the hallways of Yotsuba Corporation's headquarters. He had switched his customary goggles and stripes out for a professional-looking suit, and his normally messy red hair was ironed and combed. Matt had done infiltration missions like this before, but he still disliked having to wear anything but his goggles and stripes.

L was following him, still having no clue what Matt was doing. Matt was briefing him on the revised plan that he and Mello had created after it became apparent that this was one of those missions where Aryn got so passionate about it that she refused to see reason and actually _think_ about how the others would end up being able to actually pull it off.

That happened occasionally for all of L-5, often enough that they'd created a protocol for dealing with potentially suicidal plans, such as the one Aryn, Light, Misa and Near were insisting on implementing. As long as the ones being asked to perform the mission attempted for at least half an hour to get the person, or people, to change their mind, it was perfectly okay for them to go through with alternate plans.

And damn was Matt glad for that right now.

Aryn's plan was nearly impossible. Lady Luck would have had to do a hell of a lot more that smile down on them for it to work.

Matt and Mello's plan, on the other hand, was far more feasible.

Matt had hacked into Eiichi Takahashi's schedule, setting up a noon meeting between 'Raiden Kikunaga' from Sakihiro Industries. Sakhiro Industries was an actual company, that just so happened to be run by one of the Lords of the Court. So, it was easy for Matt to contact Kento Sakihiro and inform him of the fact that he now had two false employee files on his records, and that they would be disappearing at some point during the next week, and, furthermore, his company name was being used to aid the solution to the Kira problem. Kento had been ecstatic to have been of use to his Prince. Of course, the fact that Matt planned on actually _making_ the deal with Yotsuba had to help.

Matt planned on messing with the man's hearing, making him more susceptible to ideas (A technique Matt had blatantly stolen from the Fairies, known among humans as _mesmer_.), to make him think that he had scheduled the meeting himself. It was always useful to have the opposing force confused and embarrassed, tripping over it's feet. Made hiding facts a bit easier.

L was going to be posing as Matt's intern, Masanori Kawakuro. He was to sit in a corner, and be quiet. Mello had started laughing insanely when he heard Matt's description of L's role in this plan, stating that it sounded like Matt was going to be treating L like he was a child. Matt felt a certain vindication at the fact that L had to be even more uncomfortable than Matt, being forced to not only wear a suit, but stand up straight.

Once there, Matt planned to use the distraction that Aryn had Ryuuk plan (that, at last, wasn't suicidal), namely Ryuuk picking up one of the humans and simply holding him in midair, right up against the ceiling. The spectacle of that would almost surely draw the attention of the entire building, including Takahashi.

Once Takahashi's attention was off of Matt, Matt would jab the man in the spinal pressure point on the neck to knock him out. If the Shingami was there, Matt would simply explain that he was there for Kuromisa, and, given what he'd been able to discern of her personality (namely that she was in love with Kuromisa), she would refuse to harm him in any way, and in fact follow him docilely as he searched the contents of Takahashi's computer, looping the camera footage while he was at it, erasing all records of his and L's presence before they got to searching the actual room. (Matt might be the best hacker in the world, but there were just some things you had to be on site for.)

Once Matt was finished snooping around both virtually and physically, he and L would haul ass with Takahashi being dragged along. After getting out of the building, Mello would meet up with them and take charge of Takahashi, the man being his father. (Blood, if not emotional, ties and all.) The trio would head back to headquarters with Kira in their possession, and one damn good opportunity at studying how the Death Note took control of it's possessor's. Possibly a chance to work out how to neutralize the effects of the Death Note on a current owner, and maybe a chance to devise a way to prevent the Death Note from being able to affect whoever had the bad luck to pick one up.

Matt was currently explaining all of this to L, who was being rather nonassertive for the best detective in the world. Maybe he was coming down with something? Meh, Matt didn't really care all that much. If the man decided he was going to sheep during a mission as important as this one, who was Matt to argue? It just made his job a bit easier.

Matt stopped his explanation as he and L reached the door labeled 'Eiichi Takahashi, Vice President of Material Planning.' He took a deep breath to compose himself, and rapped on the door firmly with his knuckles, striding in without waiting to hear if Takahashi let them in. Ignoring the sound of some form of conversation that was taking place on the other side of the door.

* * *

Eiichi looked up from where he was conversing with Rem. Who would dare barge in on, not only the vice President of Material Planning, not just Kira, but also the strongest of the snake demons on Earth? Whoever it was would pay, Eiichi would make sure of that!

Eiichi found himself staring as some random red-head walked into the room, with a black-haired man who looked like a crack user following him.

"Raiden Kikunaga," the young man (He looked to be barely twenty! Why was he here?) introduced himself smoothly, holding a hand out for Eiichi to shake. "I believe we had an appointment? Sakihiro Industries?"

Eiichi was spellbound by the red-head's - _Raiden_'s voice. It sounded something like a cathedral bell he had once heard when he visited Europe as an exchange student.

Rain began to pelt the side of the building, startling Eiichi out of his daze.

"O-oh, I'm sorry." Eiichi cursed himself for stuttering as he turned to his computer and away from the red-head's sea-green eyes. "Let me just check my schedule, I don't remember-" Eiichi stared at the computer screen. Sure enough, there, at noon on August 5, 2004, was an appointment with one Raiden Kikunaga, of Sakihiro Industries, regarding the possibility of Yotsuba buying some of Sakhiro's better technological developments. Eiichi suddenly remembered calling Sakihiro Industries up to ask about setting up this meeting about a week ago.

Eiichi was mortified to find himself blushing slightly. He hadn't expected them to send some sort of... of... potential _model_ as their representative! Eiichi supposed that, if he had any form of morals, he would feel horrible for lusting after some kid who looked like he was about five years, at most, older than his own son, the one that Eiichi knew had gotten killed twelve years ago, back when he was still Astarot. But Eiichi had left his morals behind a long time ago, when he was first told to kill an innocent on behalf of the Demon Court. So Eiichi looked and lusted as he hid his thoughts behind the mask he had developed long ago.

He didn't notice the way Rem's eyes had widened slightly in shock at the sight of the man following 'Raiden Kikunaga'.

After all, she had been accompanying Misa when Misa was captured by L.

Eiichi stood up and took the younger man's hand and shook it. "Eiichi Takahashi, as you can probably tell from the nameplate on my door. Terribly sorry, but I get caught up in my work, and don't even hear my alarms. I completely forgot about your appointment." Eiichi was lying through his teeth, but knew that if this pretty red-head found out his secret, any of them, he'd be forced to kill Raiden. And that was something Eiichi did not want to do.

Raiden smiled. "It's okay. I don't mind. It's rare to find someone who's actually passionate about their work this high up in a corporation as big as this one. Even in Sakihiro, where we pride ourselves on having employees who care, it's rare. I'm glad to meet a kindred spirit."

Eiichi nodded, filing that piece of information away in his mind. He would have to make sure to keep that idea up, that he actually _cared_ about his job. What a laugh! But if it made this gorgeous red-head like him more, it'd be easy to pretend that he cared.

Eiichi frowned, shifting his attention away from Raiden, and towards the black-haired man who was now standing off to the side, rather close to the wall. "Your company never mentioned anything about a second representative. If I may ask..." he trailed off delicately, leaving the question hanging.

Raiden sighed. "I'm terribly sorry about that. I was given charge of an intern rather suddenly the other day. His name is Masanori Kawakuro. He will just be sitting in on the discussion, to get an idea of how one should carry oneself when one is carrying out negotiations about on of the biggest deals the company is likely to stumble across for several years."

Eiichi nodded in faux understanding, dismissing the raven-haired man as unimportant. If something unforeseen happened, well...Eiichi _did_ have control of a Death Note. It'd be simple to get rid of him. "It does seem like the higher-ups never give you enough warning, doesn't it? It even happens at my level! I swear, it's the curse of business, to be never given forewarning. Ah, I trust he understands discretion?"

Kawakuro spoke up for the first time, eyes fixed on some obscure point about five feet to the left of the air duct. "Takahashi-san has no need to worry. I excel in the art of selective memory, and he may be assured that the specifics of sensitive discussions are automatically censored out. I will simply be observing Kikunaga-sempai's behavior and learning how I should behave should I ever be fortunate enough to find myself in a position similar to the one he is in."

Raiden turned to Eiichi, smiling. "There, you see? Absolutely no way he'll let any secrets leak. I've only known him for less than a week, but I already know that when Kawakuro begins addressing the ceiling, it means he is deadly serious about whatever he's saying. Despite what it may appear to most people."

Eiichi nodded doubtfully, not at all sure about whether or not Raiden was saying. But, he could always eliminate Kawakuro if he should end up having been lying. That was, if he actually _cared_ about his job. Which he didn't. He was only in it to get some money since his best source of money had the _nerve_ to off herself, along with the snot-nosed brat he'd given her to make her happy.

"If you say so..."

"Oh, I do." Raiden assured him, face utterly sincere.

Eiichi frowned, looking out of his window as a particularly violent sheet of rain slammed against his window. "You know, I could have sworn that the forecast called for clear skies all this week."

Raiden shifted slightly in his seat. "Yeah... Odd, isn't it?"

"Very well then, shall we get along to the purpose of this meeting?" Eiichi asked, wanting to get the business over with, so he could possibly invite this gorgeous young man out for a drink or something.

Raiden smiled. "Of course. Now," He set the briefcase that he was carrying on Eiichi's desk with a thump, shaking the desk slightly, and promptly began pulling papers out of it. Eiichi started slightly, not having noticed the briefcase before that moment. "here are several schematics of the newest software chips that the techies at Sakihiro have come up with. If you look here, here and here," Raiden pointed to three different blueprints in rapid succession. Eiichi just tried to follow along, having never been much of one for the really technical side of his job. "it should be fairly obvious that Sakimura Industries has a significant advantage over the rest of the market when it comes to speed, memory, and miniaturization of computer chips. Computer chips made by Sakimura Industries are smaller, hold more data, and work faster than any other chip on the market. Now, looking at these papers here, you can see a graph showing a comparison of product performance between our chips and the chips of the current leading computer company. As you can see, there is quite a difference." And Raiden continued, spouting facts and data at such a rapid pace that Eiichi was left in the dust.

Eiichi resorted to smiling and nodding, responding with the occasional 'I see' or 'That _is_ very interesting'. He actually no clue in Hell what he was agreeing to.

Suddenly, the phone extension on Eiichi's desk rang, startling Eiichi out of his half-alert daze. He jerked slightly in place, and immediately froze, hoping that Raiden hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary in his reaction to the phone ringing.

Thankfully Raiden didn't appear to have noticed anything. he was looking at the phone with a frown. "Now, who'd be indecent enough call a person when his schedule _clearly_ shows that he's in a meeting at that time?" Raiden asked of no one.

Eiichi shrugged, forcing himself to look annoyed. Truthfully, he was just as happy that the phone had rung. Raiden may be gorgeous, but the man could _drone_. "Well, I have no idea. Maybe I should-" Eiichi winced as the phone began ringing more insistently. "-answer it?"

Raiden winced as well. "I suppose so. If they're interrupting you when you're in the middle of a meeting, it has to be important, right?"

Eiichi looked at the phone doubtfully. "You're right. But I swear, if this is another case of Dai Ishioo breaking a keyboard because he types too firmly, I don't know what I'm going to do. Those idiots at Supply don't seem to get the idea that I'm too high up to bother with broken keyboards." Honestly, why was it no one in the entire bloody damned company understood the meaning of delegation? He was Kira! he had too much to do to be getting distracted by every broken keyboard or faulty water cooler. Just because he had "Material Planning" in his title...

Raiden grimaced sympathetically. "Big business does seem to attract the pet types who don't have the confidence to do anything by themselves, doesn't it? But, even if it _is_ just a broken keyboard-" A wince as the phone seemed to reach a higher register. "-it'd be worth picking up the phone just to get that noise to stop."

Eiichi nodded in agreement, reaching out and picking up the phone. "Moshi-moshi. Eiichi Takahashi speaking."  
_  
"TAKAHASHI-SAN! THANK KAMI! THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG DOWN HERE WITH ONE OF THE MACHINES!"_ A woman's voice came shrieking out of the phone. Eiichi winced and held it away from his ear, head ringing. When would these people learn that screaming did nothing?

Then a loud clatter and some sort of demonic rattle came from the speaker, followed shortly by a frightened scream.  
_  
"OH MY GOD, IT'S GOT SHUICHI!"_ the woman on the phone screamed in horror. _"TAKAHASHI-SAN, DO SOMETHING!!!! ONE OF THE COMPUTERS YOUR DEPARTMENT ACQUIRED IS POSSESSED! AND IT'S GRABBING PEOPLE! FIRST THAT VISITING MODEL AND HER MANAGER, NOW SHUICHI, WHO KNOWS WHO'S NEXT?!?!?! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!"  
_  
Eiichi sighed, wondering what the hell was going _on_ down there. Yes, demons existed, but as Eiichi well knew, they did _not_ possess computers. Raiden was looking at the receiver in concern, as was his intern... Kawa-something.

"Did that woman say that... a computer is eating people?" Raiden asked slowly.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I don't know what's going on. I assure you we've never had something like this happen before." Eiichi replied quickly.

Raiden shook his head and smiled. "Well, I believe this is actually quite good fortune for my company, if not for those poor people who were eaten. You see, this is just further proof of why Sakihiro would obviously be the better choice."

"..." Eiichi failed to follow _that_ jump in logic.

"You see," Raiden elaborated, "we've never had our computers attempt to eat people."

Eiichi wondered how the younger man was able to say that with a smile on his face.  
_  
"TAKAHASHI-SAN, HELP!!!!"_ Eiichi jumped at the reminder that, not only were computers getting possessed, they were being possessed, _right now_, and it was not the time for talking about business.

"I'll be right there," Eiichi reassured the woman on the phone before hanging up, not entirely sure what he was going to do, but he'd say anything to get the screeching to stop. Snakes had very sensitive ears, after all. And that was _not_ a pleasant sound.

Eiichi turned to Raiden and his intern... Kawakuro, Eiichi thought his name was. (Now that he thought about it, it was rather odd that Kira would have so much trouble remembering a person's name. But that was the inconsistencies of the universe for you.) He offered them a strained smile.

"I have only the faintest of ideas what's going on down there, but I will give you the option of joining me or not. I don't want to force you to put yourselves in harms way, Kikunaga-san, Kawakuro-san, but I also don't want to force you to stay out of the way should you wish to join me. So I leave it up to you."

Raiden grinned, and Eiichi found himself slightly disturbed. He'd seen similar grins all too often on the faces of wolf Demons, after a finished battle. "I've always been one for danger. Besides, it's not everyday you get the chance to see something like a possessed computer. Of course I'm coming with!"

Kawakuro turned his gaze from the ceiling to stare directly into Eiichi's eyes. Eiichi felt a shiver run down his spine. The intern's black eyes seemed like the depths of a black hole, endless and all-consuming. That intern was _creepy!  
_  
"I have been instructed to watch Kikunaga-sempai as he goes about his business. Such a situation as this would certainly be included in that. Besides, unlikely as it is that I would ever run across some form of possessed computer again, any prior experience would most likely be required. Therefore, I too will be accompanying Kikunaga-sempai and Takahashi-san as they go to look at this possessed computer."

Eiichi nodded shortly, discomfited by the intern's disturbing manner, and turned to the door reaching out for it. He didn't notice the smirk that crossed 'Raiden's' face as Eiichi turned his back.

He did, however, notice when the world went black as he felt a stinging prick on the back of his neck, but by then, it was too late as the world faded to black in the eyes of one Eiichi Takahashi, the third Kira.

* * *

Matt slipped out of character gratefully as the blond man slumped to the floor. He looked absently out the window, where the rain that had been sheeting down for the past half an hour was finally beginning to slow down. The weather had been reacting to his agitation at the part he'd had to play in this plot. More specifically, as Matt got more and more distressed thanks to Takahashi's blatant ogling, the rain began to fall harder and harder. Now that Matt was no longer being stared at by a mass murderer, he was able to calm down slightly, and thus the rain was slowing down.

Matt turned back away from the window and sat down at Takahashi's computer. "Can you search the bookshelf for a Death Note, L-_Ryuuzaki_?" Matt corrected himself quickly when he nearly let L's identity out. Admittedly, the only person who'd be able to hear anything was the Shinigami, and she already knew L's name, but still. It was the principle of the thing. "Remember Kuromisa said that the one we're looking for won't have words Death Note written on it anywhere. At least not in any human language."

L nodded slightly before shuffling off to look through the bookshelf. Matt frowned. The man was still sheeping. Oh well, made for less work for Matt.

Matt began to scan through Takahashi's computer, looking for incriminating information that _could_ be given to Interpol. They'd never accept the excuse of 'He was possessed by a murderous spirit'. Although that would be amusing to try. But Matt digressed.

And Matt's phone also rang, so Matt was forced to corral his thoughts, when normally he'd let them wander.

"Yo." Matt answered, knowing full well that if it was anyone Japanese on the other end, they'd be infuriated at Matt's lack of respect. He also knew that Mello wouldn't give a crap.  
_  
"Hey Matt. Can I kill the possessed computer now?"_ Mello asked.

Matt laughed. "I knew you were behind that! Yeah, you can kill it. Takahashi's out cold, and will be until I want him to wake up."

Mello sighed. _"Matt, you know it's dangerous to meddle with someone's blood, especially when you lose control of you powers and make it rain. So why'd you do it? In case you've forgotten, we want him alive."_

"I know that!" Matt cried. "But I just spent the last half hour getting mentally undressed by my boyfriend's father, who just so happens to be possessed by a killer notebook! 'Sides, I was careful."

Matt could _hear_ Mello wince. _"I'm sorry. I had no clue that jack-ass-tard would end up reacting that way to you, or else I'd never have sent you in."_

Matt rolled his eyes. "Mel, it's not your fault. You had no way of knowing. Besides," Matt grinned. "I can always get back at him later."

Mello was silent for a moment.

"Mel?" Matt asked.

_"Sorry. I was killing the robot. Now, you were saying something bout taking your discomfort out of jack-ass-tard's ass?"_

Matt laughed. "No, I wasn't. Now that you mention it though, that sounds like a good idea. Hey, I think I heard the hysterical woman who called Takahashi earlier mention something about a 'visiting model and her manager'. What'd you do to Misa and Light?"

_"Umm... They're kinda back at the headquarters at the moment."_

Matt shook his head in exasperation, before pausing and taking a closer look at what the computer screen in front of him was displaying. "Hel-_lo_. Mel, I do believe I just hit the jackpot."

_"What are you talking about?"_

"I just found a ghost file of a schedule for Takahashi, from a little under month ago. It mentions a meeting after work hours. The other parties mentioned are only listed as 'The heads and vices', and the subject is 'The notebook'. We'd have to make something out of it for Interpol, something not involving Death Notes, but can you honestly tell me this wouldn't sound suspicious, even if you didn't know about the Death Notes?"

_"...Matt, you're absolutely right. You hit the frigging jackpot."_

"I believe I have found the Death Note," L said shakily, staring at Rem. "If if was the act of touching the note that allowed us to see Ryuuk, then touching a Note attached to another Shinigami would allow one to see that Shinigami. Therefore, I'm fairly sure that the notebook I'm holding at the moment is a Death Note, given that the second I touched it, a tall skeletal figure with facial markings akin to the ones Misa-san described on her Shinigami appeared."

Matt looked over at L. "That's great. Wait, no it ain't. Tell me, do you feel any sort of an urge to murder large portions of humanity? Or any sentient race, for that matter?"

L frowned slightly. "No..."

Matt sighed in relief. "Good, then Takahashi _is_ the current host of the Death Note's presence."

"You weren't entirely sure?" L would later admit that his voice squeaked slightly there. And it was only years of training himself to control his emotions that led to that being his only reaction.

"Umm..." Matt pressed a finger against his lips in mock-thought. "I was 99% sure that Takahashi is the host of the Death Note." He flashed a smirk at L, knowing full well how L would make up bogus percentages like that on the spot when he didn't feel like explaining something.  
_  
"Oi!_" Mello yelled from the phone._ "I have no idea what's going on! Matt, have you disabled the cameras? Cause, if you have, then I'm flashing up there right now."_

Matt sighed. "Yeah, Mel, one of the first things I did was cut the cameras. So you can flash up here."  
_  
"Good."_ Mello flashed into the room, snapping his phone closed as he did so. "Now, before I do anything else..."

Mello strode over to his father, who still lay prostrate on the floor and kicked him in the nuts three times. "One was for my mother. The second was for the lives you took as Astarot Keehl, Eiichi Takahashi and Kira, and the third was for traumatizing my Matt, jack-ass-tard." He walked over to Matt, who was still sitting in the computer chair and drew him into a possessive hug. "I'm sorry that you had to deal with getting perved on by my murdering father."

Matt smiled at Mello. "It's okay. Like I said, you had no way of knowing. Now," Matt turned slightly to face L. "do you suppose you could pass that notebook over here? I for one would kinda like to see the Shingami that fell in love with an incubus."

L shrugged and passed the book to Matt. Matt took it for a moment before passing it on to Mello, staring wide-eyed at Rem.

"Holy frick..." Mello whispered in shock. "I was expecting it, but damn. Just damn."

"Uh-huh." Matt nodded in agreement.

Rem had been watching the people in front of her. She was initially worried about Misa when L came into the room, but it was rather obvious that something was going on. Even before the blond, Mello Mihael Keehl Illanov, appeared from midair. Not even a Shinigami could do that! Now, Rem decided to speak up since it was obvious that no one else was going to.

"You mentioned Misa. What have you done to her?"

Matt and Mello glanced at each other.

"We have given her back a part of herself that she was not aware she was missing. We gave her back her _true_ place in the world. She is currently at the apartment we have commandeered in the Kira investigation headquarters, along with Light," Mello said carefully, choosing his words carefully to make sure that he didn't let anything important slip to Rem too early.

"Light Yagami?" Rem asked harshly. "He is not to be trusted. He is Kira."

Matt shook his head. "No, he is not. If you accompany us, we will show you Misa, and give you proof that he, and several others, can be trusted."

Rem thought it over for a while. She would be near Misa, and able to keep an eye on Light. But one thing was still troubling her...

"Why is _he_," Rem gestured to L, "here? And why has his name changed?"

"His name has changed for the same reason as Misa's changed. He has regained a part of himself that he did not know he was missing," Mello responded.

Matt stood up from his chair. "Well, we've accomplished the goals we set for this mission, Mel. I don't think there's a whole hell of a lot more we can do while we're still here. Might as well go back to headquarters. Sides, we can fob the explanation of onto the others once we get there!"

Mello grinned. "You're right. We _could_ fob it off. L, Rem, hold on. I'ma grab jack-ass-tard and we can flash back there!"

Matt shook his head. "You can flash back immediately with Rem and Takahashi, but Ryuuzaki and I were seen at the front. It'd look suspicious if we don't walk back out the front doors."

"Whatever." Mello shrugged, grabbing Takahashi by the wrist. "The point is, let's get going back. I'm out of chocolate."

Matt laughed fondly, shaking his head. "Don't ever change, Mel, don't ever change."

Mello smirked. "I wasn't planning on it."

And with those words. Mello grabbed Rem with his unoccupied hand and flashed the trio of them back to headquarters. Matt stood for a moment, watching the space where Mello had been.

"Is everything okay?" L asked, concerned for his... heir probably wasn't the best word anymore. Not with what he'd learned in the past few days.

Matt sighed. "Yeah. Let's go."

Matt strode out of the room, pausing only long enough to erase the recent history on the computer and grab his briefcase. L followed him after a brief pause, feeling apprehensive for some reason L couldn't quite identify.

* * *

Okay, so to clarify a few things up. First, the original plan wasn't as bad as Mello made it out to be, it just exposed Matt to more danger than he was willing to let him be exposed to. Second, yes, I did write Mello's father wanting to get into Matt's pants. Trust me, I felt nearly as dirty writing it as you did reading it, possibly more. Third, yeah, this was too easy. You try coming up with a believable plan that will interest people. Fourth, I was looking at some things about Harry Potter this week, and I realized something. This humble fanfic is longer than either the first or the second books.

NO OMAKE THIS WEEK!

Please review! Reviews help to eat the writer's block that is currently eating at my brain!


	21. Mello's Return and Near's Pet Peeve

Disclaimer: No. Just no.

* * *

**Chapter 21 - Mello's Return and Near's Pet Peeve**

* * *

Aizawa rolled his eyes as the three teens who had stayed in headquarters continued to horse around. He may have accepted their story yesterday, but he still couldn't fully get his head around the idea that they were responsible for such a large portion of the Earth's population at such a young age.

And when they acted as immature as they were at the moment, Aizawa thought, watching as Sayu teased Aryn and Near about their apparent nocturnal activities, Aryn blushing madly and Near appearing to ignore her, it was even harder to comprehend. They _looked_ like they were only teenagers, nothing more.

Aryn glared at Sayu. "Yeah, well, at least I don't have a crush on my brother's ex-girlfriend, who happens to be a model."

"Is it that obvious?" Sayu whispered, blushing.

Aizawa frowned. Since when was Misa Light's ex-girlfriend? Then Aizawa realized that he was beginning to sound like a gossip-hungry teenage girl... or Matsuda. He promptly beat that line of thought down into the 'never-think-of-again' box. He was _not_ Matsuda, and would never be compared to that idiot. Not as long as he had breath in his body. Or even afterwards.

Suddenly, two bodies fell from the ceiling and landed in a heap on the floor. Matsuda shrieked, Mogi twitched, but none of the teens reacted overmuch.

Aryn glanced over at the two-person pile-up on the floor. "Oh, hey Light, Kuromisa. Weren't you supposed to be getting here via normal means, _not_ falling from the ceiling?"

Aizawa was mildly impressed with how well she was taking her brother falling from the ceiling with no warning.

Light sprang to his feet looking around wildly. "Where is it? I swear, if I ever..." Light froze in place, staring at something in the room intensely. "COMPUTER!"

Aizawa frowned, looking from the computer, to Light, who was twitching and staring at it angrily.

"...Light, are you okay?" Near asked after a moment of stunned silence on the part of most of the room, whimpers on Misa's part, and growls on Light's part.

Light glared at the computer even harder, if that was possible. Aizawa was impressed with how well the teen could glare.

"We got fucking eaten by a possessed computer and ended up here," Light growled.

Aryn stared for a moment. "...I'm sorry, I could've sworn you just said that you got eaten by a possessed computer. Care to repeat what actually happened?"

Light was about to respond, most likely with some form of an angry retort, when another person fell from the ceiling. Misa shrieked and hid behind Sayu, but no one else seemed to react very much.

Aizawa sighed. When had the world become a place where no one panicked at the sudden appearance of a full-grown man - or anything really - from the ceiling? Or, more specifically, _his_ world. Aizawa really didn't care if every other person in the world was perfectly fine with things falling from the ceiling, he _wasn't!_

An average looking man, wearing a suit, stood up from the floor and began looking around, obviously scared out of his mind.

"W-w-w-where am I?" the man stuttered. "T-t-the comput-t-ter..."

Aryn sighed. Yet another innocent bystander getting caught up in one of their plans.

"What's your name?" Light asked gently, trying to get the man to calm down.

"Sh-Shuichi." The man's eyes were darting from side to side like those of a wild animal. "Wh-what happened? I was- The computer- Teleportation?" The poor man didn't have the right words to describe the shocks he'd just been through.

Light sighed. Cue his ability to alter a person's memories. Damn, he hadn't wanted to do this sort of thing in front of humans. This was going to end badly, Light just knew it. "Listen to me." The man, Shuichi, turned to look at Light, only to be hypnotized by ivory eyes. His frightened-rabbit quivering died down, and he stilled completely, staring into Light's eyes as Light informed him of what his day was like now. "You had a completely normal day at Yotsuba, doing... nothing out of the ordinary at all. The only odd thing was the fact that you felt ill at lunch, and went home. Do you understand?"

Shuichi nodded slowly before responding monotonously. "I understand."

"Good." Light would admit that he purred slightly, but altering someone's memories always gave him a slight rush. "Now repeat your instructions back to me."

"I had a completely normal day today. At lunch I felt ill and went home." Still, Shuichi's voice was monotone. Light thought he saw Mogi shudder out of the corner of his eye. Light wouldn't blame him, such puppet-like behavior was mildly disturbing in a human.

"Very good. That's it exactly. Now, you will laugh at your coworkers when they say you were eaten by a possessed computer, and believe that someone in R&D was testing some holographic equipment using your image, but it went wrong. Do you understand?"

Again, Shuichi nodded. "I understand."

"Good. Repeat your instructions."

"When my coworkers tell me that I was eaten by a possessed computer, I will believe that an R&D experiment went wrong."

"Very good." Light was going to say more, but Near interrupted him.

"Light, I believe that is all you have to mess with his mind. That is definitely enough to keep our secret."

Ivory eyes snapped around to meet Near's calm grey eyes. "No," Light whispered softly, before raising his voice slightly. "No, it is not enough. It's never enough! You don't understand, he's still a danger, he could still reveal us! We need to put safeguards into place, make entirely certain that he will not remember something he should not!"

Aryn stepped forward, gently touching Light's arm. Light snapped around to face her, ivory eyes fading to honey. He groaned.

"Odin, I overdid it again, didn't I?"

Aryn nodded, a smirk twitching at her lips. "You really need to stop overdrawing on our old powers, Light. The fact that we have the memories, and have the genetic structure of Angels, doesn't mean that we're able to do everything we were in the past. Different lives are kept separate for a reason. Or at least," Aryn amended when she saw Light quirk one of his eyebrows, "most of the time. Then again, we've always been freaks, neh?"

Shuichi was blinking rapidly and looking around, looking confused, but still too calm to really be frightened. Near sighed.

"Would either of you two be willing to Flash him back to Yotsuba? I'd do it, but I am not a masochist by any means, and Flashing really is painful for me."

Aryn sighed. "I'll go." She grabbed Shuichi's arm and the two disappeared.

Near turned to Light and Misa. "May I ask what happened while you were at Yotsuba? Or would it be best not to ask?"

Light looked up at the ceiling. "Umm... actually, I don't really know what happened. I'd guess Mello did something. You know he can mess with electronics, thanks to the fact that he's got control of electricity, via his control of electrons."

Near rolled his eyes. "I know Light, and I'm fairly sure everyone else is completely lost. So kindly skip to what actually happened."

"Near as I can tell," Light began, gleefully pretending not to notice Near's wince. (Near _really_ didn't like the fact that his name featured in so many colloquial sayings.) "Matt and Mello had some other plan, and they somehow convinced L to go along with that plan. I'd guess that they figured that the distraction Ryuuk could provide was not quite enough. So, Mello messed with one of the computers, making it a temporary gate to here or something. Then, he set his miniature minion of electricity and doom upon Misa and me, transporting us back to here. I'd guess he then forgot to turn off the gate before setting his minion on some innocent bystander."

Near sighed. "Well, if they went along with some other plan, we had better hope that they at least managed to complete the end goals of the mission."

At that point, Ryuuk popped into the room at high speeds. He flew from one end of the room, to the other, and out the other wall, an audible squeal following behind him. Near and Light stared, along with the three humans. After a moment, Ryuuk returned to the room.

"Sorry 'bout that," Ryuuk laughed slightly sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Kinda jus' flew from Yotsuba t' here in... half a minute flat? That's... speeds of 97 kilometers per hour? Somethin' like that. Too fast for me t' stop that quickly. Anyways, wha' gives, Lighto? You n' Misa jus' disappeared!"

Light sighed and face-palmed. "Ryuuk, we are not entirely sure, but expect to be sure in roughly a maximum of ten minutes."

Aryn Flashed back into the room. "Kay, the Shuichi dude is back where he belongs, without any memories of what happened in the intervening time, and the firm belief that he gave the R&D department permission to use his image in an experiment or something. All the loose ends are tied up."

Misa sighed, looking at the floor.

"Misa-san? What's wrong?" Sayu asked. Misa looked up sadly.

"Misa just isn't used to being able to do nothing. When she was growing up, Misa was always able to do _something_ to help, but as of right now... Misa's powers are still locked away. Misa's parents told her about the seal they used on Misa's powers a while before Misa's parents and her sister were killed, and it will take another three years, at least, before Misa gets her powers back fully. So, at the moment, Misa's just as human as you are, Sayu-chan. And, no offense, Sayu-chan, but Misa doesn't like being human now that she remembers being not human." Misa looked absolutely miserable. "I'm sorry. I don't like burdening others with my problems."

Sayu rubbed Misa's arm comfortingly, leading her out of the room. "It's okay, Misa-san. That's what friends are for, to help a person get through their problems when their problems are too big for them to deal with on their own!"

Misa laughed softly as she allowed herself to be led by the younger girl. "Misa doesn't think that sentence quite made sense."

Sayu shrugged just as the two walked out of the room. "It got the point across, yeah?"

Light shook his head at Aryn. "Ever feel like you're living some crappy soap opera out?"

Aryn nodded. "Especially when it comes to weeks like the past week. Hell, the past half-year or more might as well have been written by some novice fantasy novelist. Everything seems to be fitting into place all at once."

Near nodded. "It does seem rather suspicious, does it not?"

Mello Flashed into the room at that moment, dragging a dead-seeming body with him, and apparently holding onto thin air. Matsuda screamed.

THUD.

Mello dropped the body as he turned to look at Matsuda. "I thought we got that straightened out?"

"I'm starting to think it's a brain disorder of some kind or something," Aryn said matter-of-factly. "It's far too consistent for it to be simply coincidence or cowardice."

"Maybe his brain can only process so much information before it has to shut itself down to assimilate the information it has stockpiled?" Near surmised as Light knelt down beside Matsuda to peel back one of his eyelids.

"Well, he doesn't appear to be harmed in any way," Light said, peering into Matsuda's eyes. "In fact, it doesn't look like he's doing anything more than simply sleeping."

"Shock-induced narcolespy?" Aryn asked. Light shrugged, standing back up.

"No clue. Actually, I don't think that's a real condition. I do know that we might as well get to explanations. If Matsuda's going to keep on doing this, we might as well not wait for him to wake up before we get on to the clearing up of the mud."

"..." Everyone stared at him blankly.

Light sighed. "Just get on with explaining what the crap that stunt with the computer was, Mello." Light turned away slightly, and muttered to himself, "Am I the only one to get metaphors that seem utterly obvious if you think about it?"

It was at this point that Matt and L Flashed back into the room, L stumbling slightly from the sudden change in location. Flashing may have been instantaneous, but it was by no means easy on the inner ear. It was rather obvious to Light, who had reviewed Kira's memories, and been able to decipher most, if not all, of L's minute expressional clues, that L was rather disturbed by something that had happened while he was in Yotsuba.

Light caught L before he could fall to the ground, and pulled the older man into a hug, glaring at Matt and Mello. "What did you two do to him?"

Mello rolled his eyes. "We didn't do anything but come up with a lot more likely of a plan. It was a case of selective deafness on your part. A-frigging-gain. I think L's just not used to acting so much. He might have had a background role, but still. He had to pretend to look up to _Matt_, and, much as I love him, I admit it would take a hell of a lot to get most people to look up to him, let alone someone with as much pride as L."

Mello _did_ have a point, Light admitted to himself. Matt wasn't exactly the easiest person to pretend to look up to.

The blond man who Mello had dropped on the floor when Matsuda lost conciousness stirred and tried to sit up.

"Oh, my head. Wha-" the man began as he looked about, before being cut off by a sharp blow to the head from Mello.

"_Damn_ that feels good!" Mello muttered to himself, smirking viciously.

Matt sighed, flopping down into one of the empty chairs. "Mel, I think we're gonna have to explain our plan. First of all, that _is_ jack-ass-tard himself, Takahashi, Astarot, whatever you want to call him. I knocked him out and figured, hey, since we're here and he's defenseless, might as well bring him along with us, dissect the Death Note's spirit and all."

Rem choked slightly on her shock. "Dissect the what?" Ryuuk jerked in surprise, not having noticed the fact that Rem was in the room before.

"Rem?" Ryuuk asked. "Have these crazy people gotten ta you too?"

"Indeed," Rem deadpanned, before looking at Matt. "I was told I would be able to see Misa, yet I do not see her. Where did Misa go?"

Matt looked around the room, frowning in confusion. "You know? I'm not entirely sure."

Light twitched. "Matt, what have we said about responding to the voices in your head when they aren't one of ours?"

Matt rolled his eyes at Light. "I'm not going crazier then normal, thank you oh so very much for your faith in my abilities. L found the Death Note that had been in Jack-ass-tard's possession, and we brought it back. Reminds me," Matt opened his briefcase and pulled out a black notebook and tossed it carelessly to Aryn, who yelped and caught it. "here ya go. Pass that around, and everyone should be able to see her. Rem, I think you said she was named, Light?"

Light nodded, absently grabbing the notebook from Aryn. He passed it on to Near before turning to greet Rem. He had an idea of what he had to do to gain the Shingami's forgiveness for planning how to get her to kill herself while he was being controlled by the Death Note.

"Rem," Light intoned formally before sinking down to his knees and bowing his head. "I ask you forgiveness for the despicable things I planned for you to do while I was... being controlled. Rest assured that the Light Yagami before you now is not the same Light Yagami as the one that you first met. And the one before you is the true one."

Rem stared at Light, startled. She had never, never in what would have been her wildest dreams, if Shinigami could dream, imagined that Light Yagami would one day ask for her forgiveness.

"Do you accept?" Near asked, staring intently at Rem.

Rem hesitated for a moment. "I hope I do not come to regret this," she began. Light flinched, anticipating a negative response. "but, Light Yagami, I forgive you."

Light stood up slowly. "I thank you, Rem."

Rem turned away, uncomfortable with this new and strange Light Yagami, who apparently had added the names of Blabdas, Arget and Suino to his own. "Where is Misa?"

"Umm..."

"Oh yeah!" Aryn exclaimed. "Sayu brought Misa back to the apartment, cause she was feeling all inferior cause she can't get her powers back for another couple of years, and she seems to think that we're going to banish her from the Court, even though we'd never do something like that, and so she was feeling all insecure and stuff and... and... yeah." Aryn trailed off, not really sure how to end that sentence.

"Did you seriously just say all of that in _one_ sentence?" Mello asked incredulously.

Aryn nodded wordlessly, smiling brightly at Mello. Mello shuddered slightly.

"Frigging stop it! You know how fucking creepy it is when you start acting all ditzy! I swear, it makes me think you're going to break into a goddamned cheering routine!"

Aryn grinned. "But, Mello, you know that's why I do it!"

"Aryn, it disturbs me too," Near said quietly, knowing Aryn would hear him.

Aryn looked down. "Sorry Near."

Light turned to Rem, who was still confused about what was going on, and Ryuuk. "Ryuuk, can you take Rem over to the apartment? I'm sure she'd like to see Misa and learn everything that's been going on for the past few days."

Ryuuk nodded and led Rem out of the room via wall. Why they avoided the open door, which was two feet to the left of the point where they passed through the wall, was anyone's guess.

Takahashi groaned and tried to sit up again. Mello raised a hand to knock the man back to the ground, but was stopped from doing so by a touch from Matt.

"Leave him. Let him wake up so we can start to get an idea of how his sob story is different from everyone else's. If he actually views it as a sob story, which isn't very likely due to the fact that he pretty much drove your mother to suicide."

Mello sighed, deflating slightly. "But I like to hit him! It makes me feel better!" Mello whined. Matt whapped him on the head.

"Idiot, calm down. you're going to freak him out, and we don't want him to get violent."

Mello quirked an eyebrow at Matt.

"More violent than he's already likely to," Matt amended.

While Matt and Mello were having their whispered conversation, Light, as the most charismatic of the group, had strode forward and stared Takahashi down.

"Eiichi Takahashi..." Light began, before stopping himself. "No. Astarot Keehl. You are under arrest for being Kira."

The blonde man looked at Light in mock-confusion, not fooling anyone. "What are you talking about? I'm not Kira. I don't know why you'd think I am. And what are you talking about, Astarot Keehl? I've never heard that name before in my life."

Near stepped forward. "You are not fooling anyone in this room, Kira. We found the killing weapon, the Death Note. Rem has stated that you are Kira. And as for being Astarot Keehl, well. There's a difference between the human police and us."

The man flinched backwards, but gave no other indication of fright as L-5 simultaneously released their glamours, letting their non-human characteristics show.

A cruel smirk curved Mello's lips as he strode forward. "What's the matter, Takahashi? Don't you recognize your own son?"

Taahashi flinched backwards, eyes wide. "M-Mihael?"

Mello nodded coldly, eyes raising to meet Takahashi's.

"Hello, father."

* * *

AAAAAAAAAND, CLIFFIE!

...Okay, not really. I don't think. Can't really remember what happens in the next chapter, given how far ahead of it I am in writing. But it is a dramatic moment.

Please excuse my more insane than usual state. I'm doped up on cold meds cause I'm getting a chest cold and had a fever.

Due to my sicko state, no omake today. Sorry. But, I will most likely be updating on Christmas. So, feel grateful for that, at least.


	22. Light's Transformation and Aryn's Sorrow

Disclaimer: Wouldn't it be awesome if I got Death Note for Christmas? Alas, it is not to be. T.T

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**Chapter 22 - Light's Transformation and Aryn's Sorrow

* * *

**

For a moment there was silence, Takahashi not really knowing what to say. What does one say when one is confronted with their son, who they had been entirely sure died in a fire over a decade ago? Takahashi certainly didn't know.

"Well, isn't this just such a wonderfully _festive_ family reunion?" Light asked sarcastically, annoyed by how tense everything was.

Mello glared at Light and chucked the nearest thing he could reach (a paperweight) at Light. Unfortunately for Aizawa, who was behind Light, Light dodged the paperweight and let it continue on its journey, only to be stopped by Aizawa's shin.

"Mother friggin' shit!" Aizawa yelped as he began hopping around on one foot, clutching his shin. (That paperweight was _heavy_.) And suddenly, the atmosphere wasn't all that tense anymore.

Light and Mello began arguing heatedly, mostly regarding inappropriate remarks being made in the presence of mass murderers and the fact that, if Light let Mello joke about Light's past life, then Light absolutely had the right to be sarcastic about Mello's father.

Near shook his head in mock shame. "Isn't it sad how immature some of the most powerful beings in the Realm can be?" he asked L.

L nodded seriously. "It does seem rather like they don't pay attention to what's going on around them. I find myself wondering how they managed to survive for so long, if all conflicts with the other Courts turn out as messy as the one a couple days ago."

Aryn waved a hand airily. "Actually, they're not usually that bad. That was the first time Light and me have ever been drained enough to be affected majorly, after all. Nah, one of the other sides just came out with a new chemical compound that sapped our strength rather quickly. Give us a couple of battles, and we'll be perfectly fine."

"Plus," Matt chimed in, "that was the first time we've had to fight without our handy-dandy portable shield." Matt rested a hand on Near's head.

Near brushed it off irritably. "Don't touch my head."

Matt laughed, ruffling Near's hair. "Aww, how cute. The little kid doesn't like people messing up his hair."

Near rolled his eyes and changed the floor under Matt into a mat of needles. Sharp ones. Matt yelped, and moved quickly.

"Oi, don't hate on me for telling the truth! You're the youngest one of us!" Matt protested, holding his hands up in front of him defensively.

Aryn grinned mischievously. "Don't change the fact that Near's the one who's been in a relationship the longest."

Ryuuk and Rem floated back through the door, followed by Misa and Sayu. There really was nothing to do in the building if they weren't with the others, so they'd kind of gravitated back to the room after Sayu had convinced Misa that no one thought less of her for having the powers of a human. Of course, they'd had to bring Rem up to speed too, but now everything had been taken care of and they'd been getting bored. Of course, it helped that there weren't any apples anywhere in the building, otherwise they'd have taken a lot longer to get back, but that was Ryuuk for you.

Mello and Light were yelling at each other, Aizawa was still jumping around on one foot, biting off curses, Matt and Near were glaring at each other while Aryn acted as moderator/instigator, Mogi and Matsuda had disappeared, and Takahashi had been attempting to grab the Death Note that had been left laying on a shelf right next to the door. He froze at the sight of Rem, Misa and Sayu.

"Wha' the crap?" Ryuuk asked eloquently.

Sayu rolled her eyes. "Honestly, we leave for five minutes, at most, and this is what we come back to?"

Misa shrugged. "Misa is used to things like this, having spent two years in the Court after Aryn-sama and Light-sama constructed it. This used to happen all the time. Maybe not quite as badly, but Misa still remembers several times when visiting dignitaries stormed off in anger after having, and Misa quotes, 'been ignored by five brats who shouldn't have been given control of themselves, let alone an, albeit tiny, entire Court!' " Misa smiled reminiscently. "Misa thinks they used it as way to get people to underestimate them, so it'd be easier for them to get their own way when it came to temporary treaties."

Sayu grinned. " 'Zat so? Well, even if they do purposely do that, I think Takahashi is about to get a hold of one of the Death Notes, which would _not_ be a good thing, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut them short. Wish me luck." She turned to the noisy six in the room.

"Luck," Misa whispered. Sayu heard and flashed her a smile before turning back.

Sayu took a deep breath and hoped this would work. If not, she had no clue what she was going to do.

"OI! IDIOTS!" Sayu screamed. "IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, THERE HAPPENS TO BE A MASS MURDERER POSSESSED BY AN EVIL SPIRIT ABOUT TO GET HIS GRUBBY HANDS ON ONE OF THE DEATH NOTES!"

Almost immediately silence fell, and everyone turned to stare at Sayu. eyes then followed her pointing finger to land on Takahashi, who dove for the shelf.

"Oh _HELL_ no!" Aryn growled, before taking a flying leap and tackling Mello's father.

Mello rounded on Sayu while Aryn and Takahashi began wrestling on the floor, Aryn winning rather badly. "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING EARLIER?" Mello demanded loudly.

"BECAUSE YOU ALL WERE ARGUING TOO LOUDLY TO HAVE HEARD US IF WE TRIED TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!" Sayu screamed back, gesturing at Misa, Rem, Ryuuk and herself.

"WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SCREECH IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

"SCREECH? I DON'T _SCREECH!_ ASS!" Sayu screeched at Mello, before huffing and dragging Misa out of the room. "Screw this, they're all assholes. I'm starting to wonder why we don't just go back to my house. It'd be more interesting, and less dangerous than here." Rem followed the two silently, while Ryuuk stayed to watch the blond man get his ass kicked. After a moment of hesitation, so did everyone else in the room.

Aryn backed away eventually, leaving Takahashi laying on the floor, tied up by his now-ripped clothes, including a tie being used as a gag. Aryn surveyed her handiwork, nodded in satisfaction and turned around only to meet two pairs of disbelieving eyes. (L-5 already knew how violent Aryn could get if she was pissed off.)

"What?" Aryn asked innocently. Eyes turned to the whimpering man on the floor, then turned back to her. Aryn shrugged. "So sue me, he hurt one of my family, so I'll hurt him. Be grateful I waited to have an excuse. I don't afford everyone who hurts one of my family members that courtesy."

Light sighed, hanging his head in his hands. "Only you, Ar, only you."

"Well, yeah." Aryn sniffed, flipping her hair. "D'you think the world _wants_ another one of me?"

Near choked on the air.

Matt laughed. "Well, I think it's safe to say Near wouldn't necessarily mind having two of you Aryn, but the world would be fucking doomed if there were two of you. Between you and Mello we're only barely hanging in there as it is."

Mello nodded semi-seriously. "True that."

Takahashi had been working on his tie-gag since Aryn had turned away from him. He finally remembered that he had venom, and melted the tie. After spitting the liquified tie out of his mouth, he snarled at the other inhabitants of the room.

"Would someone tell me what the hell is going on here?"

"You don't have any right to information," Mello informed the man coldly. "You don't even have a place in the Court of Earth, regardless of the fact that you are - _were_ - strong enough to hold a Lordship. You ensured _that_ twelve years ago, when you drove my mother to commit suicide. Furthermore, you willingly became Kira."

Matt spoke up. "You are lower than low, and not entitled to any form of courtesy, at least in the eyes of the Court's rulers. And, really, those are the only one's whose opinions matter in this case."

Near stepped forward. "Eiichi Takahashi, you are at our mercy, and have no right to be demanding anything from anybody."

"How _dare_ you!" Takahashi snarled. "Do you know who I am? I am Astarot Keehl, the strongest snake Demon to run to the human Realm! I am Kira! I am _better than you!"_

Light smirked down at Takahashi as he stepped forward in order to look more menacing in the point of view of the man on the ground. "You do realize that that just qualified as a confession, right? Now, we can do anything we want with you, and not a sane person in the world will object to it."

Astarot shivered on the ground as the five nonhuman teens closed in on him, not understanding how things had turned around so quickly for him. One minute he was damn near on the top of everything, at least as close as he wanted to be, and then the next he was strapped up with his own clothes and about to be... something... by teenagers. Including his own son, who was supposed to be dead. What the hell had happened?

Then, Astarot decided he didn't much care as he found himself somewhere else by means of Flashing. He was just going to do his damnedest to hang on until he found a way to escape.

Astarot shivered as Light loomed over him.

"Astarot Keehl, for your crimes against humanity, and the Earthly Court, you are sentenced to death. The method of execution shall be being buried alive. Farewell, Kira."

Astarot whimpered as he found himself in a coffin and heard ground being thrown in on top of him. It was really happening. He was being buried alive and, as he tried to Flash away, he discovered that there was no way for him to escape. He was... going to die. HOw had this happened?

One moment he had been on the top of the world, high up in the chain of command of one of the strongest companies in the world in public, the strongest Snake Demon to run to the human Realm and Kira in private, and then the next he was being buried alive thanks to a group of teenagers, including his own damn son, who he thought had died twelve years ago!

Sometimes, Astarot decided, life could be a bitch, as he clawed frantically at the lid of the coffin.

* * *

Half an hour later, Light was asleep on his bed after puking his guts out. Guilt and shame over what he had done - had to do to keep his people safe - had made him sick. L was laying next to him, serving as a teddy bear for the guilt-ridden teen.

Aryn popped in, looking at her sleeping twin in concern. She turned to L. "Hey, when he wakes up, let him know that there's alcohol in the living room. Everyone else is already getting into it."

"The legal drinking age in Japan is twenty," L observed.

"Old enough to rule a country, old enough to drink," Aryn shot back. She sighed. "Besides, we've all seen and done things we aren't exactly proud of. Light most of all, but none of us have really been spared. Sometimes, we just need to forget. That's what the alcohol is for."

"I see." And L did. "I'll be sure to let him know when he wakes up."

An hour later, that was exactly what L did.

* * *

Light snuggled into his warm pillow contentedly, ignoring the alarm clock right next to the bed that was saying it was almost noon. Odin, he loved having a high alcohol tolerance, otherwise he was fairly sure that his head would be killing him after the drinking that had gone on the night before. Mission of forgetting the horrors they had been forced to commit: Successful.

...Hang on, was his pillow breathing?

Light looked up slowly, not sure he wanted to know what he had done. Hangovers, he might not get, but his judgment did occasionally fuzz. Especially after something _really_ bad happened.

L's calmly sleeping face met his eyes, and Light heaved a sigh of relief, before thinking of something. Oh Odin... he hadn't! Had he? Light couldn't remember! Light didn't think he would, but men had been known to act differently when under the influence of alcohol. Well, Light wasn't sore, but that didn't mean that he hadn't... Oh Odin, L was going to hate him now, wasn't he?

Then Light realized something that confirmed his fears. There was some sticky, half-dried liquid on the sheets covering L and he. Light looked down slowly, fairly sure of what he was going to see.

And yet another fact made itself known to Light's shell-shocked mind. The boobs were back.

Light sat up in shock. What was going on? He had boobs again, even though Light _knew_ that there was no way in hell that he had expended that much magic last night, and there was something sticky on his sheets. What's more, Light looked down to check, the fluid was red, not white like he had been expecting.

Aw Hell... he wasn't... Please, let him not be...

And then his stomach cramped up horribly, to the point Light thought he was being split in two. Then again, in his current state, maybe he should be using feminine pronouns, given that he was fairly sure he was having a period? Light decided she would. Then she realized it was probably odd that she was switching between the two so frequently, and _then_ she decided she didn't give a bloody damn.

Another wave of cramps, and Light bit back a groan, not wanting to wake L up just yet. Fairies had the worst alcohol tolerance of any of the races, and even half-Fairies with their powers bound, like L, were likely to react unfavorably with alcohol.

But _damn_ those cramps were painful! Light now understood why Aryn always bit everyone's head off when she was having her period, if they were always as painful as this. Light wanted to bite someone's head off herself.

...Not literally of course. That blood lust was something that Light made it a point _not_ to indulge herself in. No matter how much better she'd feel if she bled someone out.

Another wave of cramps struck Light, and she couldn't hold back a pained groan. L stirred next to her, and Light looked at him in panic. Sure, L had said he was fine with the fact that Light was a girl, but that had been when they thought she was only going to be a girl for a little while, not possibly forever. Light had no idea what was going on, and she didn't want L to find out until she had a clue in Hell whether this was reversible or not.

Light carefully extricated herself from the bed, not allowing herself to feel any sort of pride or happiness when she saw L whimper slightly at the loss of contact with her body. Nope, not a bit. Not a single tiny spark. Nada, zip, nyet, nein, no sirree, not Light.

...Light wasn't able to convince herself that she actually meant what she was thinking, and instead fled the room quickly before L decided to wake up.

* * *

Aryn blinked blearily as the door to her room slammed open. Near stirred slightly, a massive accomplishment for whoever it was who opened the door. When Near drank that much alcohol, he went into a freaking _coma._

Aryn rolled over and blinked at the door, trying to blink the bleariness so she could see who had barged into the room so noisily. When her vision cleared, Aryn was surprised at what she saw.

A teen girl who looked familiar - no wait, that was what Light had looked like as a girl. Why was Light a girl again? - was standing in the doorway, panting and wide-eyed, with a red stain on the jeans she was wearing.

Wait... Red stain?

Aryn shot out of bed and over to Light, afraid of what that red stain might be. "Oh Odin, Light, what the hell is going on?"

Light shook her head. "Not a clue in Hell. I woke up this morning, L was in my bed, there's sticky stuff on my sheets, and I have boobs again. S'bout all I know right now."

Aryn gasped. "Light, you and L... You didn't, right? It's way too soon! Only, what, three and a half days? Less? That might be normal for most Beings, but _not_ for humans! You didn't forget that, right?"

Light shook her head angrily. "No! Aryn, not that kind of sticky stuff! It was-" Another round of cramps hit Light right then, and Light found herself doubling over in pain, clutching at her stomach. Aryn freaked out.

"Light! Are you okay? What the crap is going on?"

"If this is what you go through every month..." Light gritted out from between clenched teeth, "then I take back everything I've ever said about the way you bite people's heads off. Fully justified."

Aryn realized what was going on. "Light... are you having a period?"

Light nodded. "At least, that's the only thing I can think of that would explain was is going on right now."

Aryn frowned. "But... naturally, you're a guy. Guys don't have periods, but yet you are. What the hell is going on?"

Light shook her head. "Not a damned clue. Do you suppose we can wait to figure out the whys and hows until after I'm... I dunno... not in nasty, bloody pants?"

Aryn smacked herself on the forehead. "Doy. Yeah, of course. C'mon in, and I'll grab you some things."

Light waited in the bathroom, not wanting to stain the carpets anymore than they already were, while Aryn tried to find some things for her twin. After a while, Aryn admitted that, for all that she had thought that she had packed up her entire apartment when she and the others relocated to Japan, somehow her pads had been left in New York.

"Light?" Aryn called. "I have to run out and buy you something. Apparently I left my pads in New York."

"Meh, just get back before any of our inevitably hung-over friends wake up," Light replied, trying to sound nonchalant despite wanting to burst into tears.

Aryn, of course, heard the distress in Light's tone. She gently laid a hand on Light's shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Light sighed heavily. "I just... I don't understand what's going on. I'm a guy, I have been for both of our lives, so why am I turning into a girl now? Did that gas do something to me that we didn't recognize? And... what if this is permanent? I don't want to be a girl for half my life! Or all of my life! I'm a guy, I was born a guy, and I want to live as a guy, I don't want to be a girl!"

"Hey, it's not all bad being a girl!" Aryn tried to joke, but it came out sounding slightly flat and stale. Light smiled anyway.

"Thanks. I know it's not, I just wasn't meant to be a girl, so I find it kind of disturbing to be one." Another wave of cramps shook Light's body, and she shuddered in pain. "Hey, weren't you going to go get some pads or something for me? Only, I'm getting tired of bleeding all over the place. I do that enough in battle that I don't need to be doing it the rest of the time."

Aryn laughed and Flashed away to a store, heart aching for her twin who just couldn't seem to get a break.

* * *

Poor, poor Light. So many things happening to her. Him. Would you believe that Light's been female often enough in this story, that I'm actually trying to decide whether this counts as yaoi, het or some odd mixture of both?

Yes, the Kira arc is over. Worry not, there are at least two more arcs to this story before it's finished. And _then_ the sequels that are bouncing around. Yeah, this universe isn't dying anytime soon.

An Omake this time! Well, more like a failed Deaging story. Feel free to adopt it if you like. Just let me know.

* * *

Light was scared. He had fallen asleep last night in his bed, at home, content and happy because his mother had made his absolute favorite food for dinner that night, and now he woke up, in a strange bed, with some sort of bird-looking man with huge eyes staring at him in confusion. And Light was hand-cuffed to the man!

Light may have been only eleven years old, but he was a genius. He knew that a situation like the one he was in right now was very dangerous. He had read all sorts of stories on the news about children getting kidnapped and ransomed. And that was if they were lucky. The unlucky ones... Light gulped. He did not want to get raped by a bird-man.

Light processed the current situation rather quickly, and then his instincts, quite normal despite the fact that he himself was not, thank you very much, kicked in and he screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The bird-man blinked at him, beginning to nibble on his thumb as Light scrambled backwards, panting heavily with an elevated heart rate.

"W-who are you? Where am I? Why am I here? What are you going to do to me?" Light asked rapidly, eyes darting from side to side, trying to find some sort of escape route.

The bird-man tilted his head to the side. "Do you truly not remember, Light-kun? If this is some sort of a trick to make me think that you are not Kira, rest assured it is not working."

"Remember what? Who's Kira and why would you think that I am whoever that person is? And don't call me Light-kun! i don't know you, you shouldn't be using my personal name!" Light cried hysterically. At that moment, an old man in a suit came bursting into the room.

"L, are you okay?" he asked frantically.

Bird-man nodded. "I am fine. Light-kun, however... appears to have de-aged to a prepubescent age during the night. Nor does he appear to have any memories since that point."

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Please review! I may not require reviews to write more, but I do like the reviews. :puppy eyes: Pleeeeease? As a Christmas present for me?


	23. L's Kidnapping and Matt's Logic

You know what I realized yesterday? This story has over 100 K posted words. 0.o Holy shit. I never expected this to get much past 50 K at the most. So, 100 K and no intention of stopping anytime soon is pretty damn impressive, yeah?

Disclaimer: Sadly enough, no.

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Chapter 23 - L's Kidnapping and Matt's Logic**

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L groaned as he woke up. His head was throbbing, making it impossible for him to think clearly. It felt rather like L imagined having brain surgery without anesthesia would feel, too painful for large amounts of thought. What had he done to be deserving of such torture?

...Oh yes, L remembered. He'd gotten drunk for the first time in his life, as a means of helping LIght get over what he had been forced to do to the third Kira, and was now apparently experiencing the infamous phenomenon known as a hangover. L could quite see why they were the bane of so many people's lives. Quite painful.

L felt his stomach roiling rebelliously and forced himself out of his bed and to the bathroom. Whichever room he was in, it would not do to cover it in vomit.

A few seconds later, as he was heaving his guts out into the toilet, L took a moment to wonder which room he'd ended up in when he passed out, the night having become a blur after roughly the third drink. L _thought_. He wasn't really sure.

L vaguely heard the door to the room - whoever's room he had found himself in - opening.

"Lawliet?" Watari called. L mentally sighed in relief, mouth still busy with purging his stomach. Though he hadn't given any indication of it, he had been quite concerned regarding the disappearance of the old man who had raised him for the largest portion of his life.

L managed to pause in his puking just long enough to call an unsteady "In here," before his stomach turned again.

He was so busy heaving that he didn't notice Watari coming in until the older man hit him sharply over the neck, knocking him out.  


* * *

Quillsh smirked as he watched the black haired half-Fairy crumple to the ground in unconsciousness. Finally. Quillsh had been wanting to do that for a long time. Quillsh threw Lawliet over his shoulder and began to make his way to the portal that was waiting for him in a nearby alley, unaware of a pair of eyes that were watching him in horror as he carried off Light's just-found consort.

The Kainai that he had put into the Fairy's mind on the night of his Awakening might not have had a full fifteen years to mature, but Quillsh couldn't afford to wait any longer. Not with the rulers of the Court were taking more of an interest in Lawliet than just the way any ruler would take note of a good detective in a next-door country.

Damn it! Why hadn't he been able to sense the fact that Light Yagami was Balbdas? He should have been able to, as one of the stronger Yarau, sense that the younger Yagami was not entirely human, especially as powerful as Balbdas was. Then again, judging by the camera feeds he'd been watching for the past couple of days, it was probably the fault of that _damned_ book.

Now that he thought about it, the things inside those books sounded like they acted a lot like a cross between a Kainai and a Yarau would act. A Kainai's bloodthirstiness, and the malicious cunning of a Yarau, like Quillsh. Hmm... definitely something that some other Yarau would have to look into. After they extracted the Kainai from Lawliet's mind and put it to good use.

Kainai were able to take the forms of the creature whose psyche they had grown up in, after all. Admittedly, the one in Lawliet wouldn't be able to act quite perfectly, but still closely enough to fool most Beings.

All the time the Yarau had spent planning ways to take over the Earth's Court would be completely ruined if Lawliet were allowed to continue on the way he had been. Or even the way he'd been moving almost fourteen years ago. _Especially_ the way he'd been moving fourteen years ago.

Such a promisingly powerful half-Fairy, being guided from the shadows by such a powerful Being as the half Fox Demon, Roger, was sure to throw a major wrench in their safe place in the Court. He was sure to find his way into the Court after some time, and Unseelie Fey were too insightful not to see the most powerful Yaraus plotting against the main branch of the Court, fragmenting it from the inside and weakening bonds of trust. So Quillsh had been put on a multi-year mission to ensure that neither Roger nor Lawliet discovered either of the levels of truth in the world.

To that end he had posed as a wealthy inventor and the last of his family, who just so happened to bump into starving Lawliet and Roger, who had been on the streets, and begging at the time. It was easy for Quillsh to pretend to be horrified by their condition, and subsequently offer them a place in his manor, where he could watch them all the time.

Remembering the stunned look on Lawliet's face, Quillsh felt slightly bad. At the time, Lawliet was just a kid, and Quillsh did have a heart, regardless of how little his actions might reflect that. But he was a kid with too much potential for the Yarau to leave him to grow on his own. And, what was more, somehow he had come across a member of one of the trickiest creatures in the world, a partial Fox Demon. There was a very good reason that foxes were famed for their cunning (Even if they weren't _nearly_ as cunning as any self-respecting Yarau.) and it wasn't entirely because of the regular foxes that inhabited Earth.

Of course, Quillsh's near-constant silent reminders that Lawliet was the reason he hadn't had a full night's sleep in longer than the Kainai had been feeding on Lawliet's mind went a long way to alleviate any guilt Quillsh might be feeling at the time.

Quillsh was roughly returned to the real world when he walked with a crash into a brick wall, instead of the portal at which he had been aiming. Quillsh rubbed his forehead ruefully.

"I really should have learned by now that I have to pay more attention to where I'm walking, regardless of where my thoughts might be leading me. It only seems to lead to pain," Quillsh muttered to himself as he picked Lawliet up and set off through the portal.

The council of Yarau turned as one when they heard the tell-tale noise of the portal's activation, then surprise turned to sadistic joy as they saw who it was that had been brought before them.

"Quillsh," the council said in unison, "you have decided to bring the half-Fey back under us? Is it not too early for the Kainai to be sufficiently developed for harvesting?"

Quillsh bowed, laying the prostrate detective on the floor, then backing away. He might not be the weakest of Yarau, but his power paled in comparison to the powers of the beings in front of him. "I apologize, high Council. But the current rulers of the Court were getting far too close to discovering the truth of what has been done to Lawliet, and, in turn, discovering us. I beg forgiveness for my assumptions, but believe I acted in the most prudent manner."

Every member of the council tilted his or her head to the side in that odd synchronicity they had. Quillsh resisted the urge to shiver. During his years with humans, he'd forgotten how disturbing the council had been, instead choosing to focus on the thought of the wife he had left behind, the council having deemed it too dangerous for more than one Yarau to be so close to someone who would have the power to destroy their anonymity.

At length the council spoke. "Very well. You have done right, Quillsh. You have our commendation for a job well done. You are dismissed."

Quillsh bowed his way out of the room backwards, only allowing himself to sigh in relief after he had put four corridors between himself and the council. He set off to try and find his wife in the maze that was known as the Citadel. He spared not a thought for the hungover Lawliet, at the nonexistent mercy of the council.  


* * *

Light sighed in an odd mixture of happiness, apprehension and confusion as she flopped down on her bed, appreciating the calmness that infused her room all the more after the panic she'd been experiencing recently.

Aryn had returned with some :ahem: _feminine products_ and an outfit that had actually been bought for a female Light about five minutes ago, and Light was finally rid of the sticky blood on her lower half, and in clothes that fit. For a moment, everything was right with the world. Aside from the whole 'I'm a girl! Again!' thing, that was.

The confusion came from the fact that, while she was trying to figure out how to use the pads Aryn had bought her along with one of her pairs of boxers, Light had discovered that this time, she was actually a hermaphrodite at the moment. Light knew that such things did occur in nature, but she had always _known_ that she wasn't a hermaphrodite, so why was she turning into one now?

The apprehension, of course, came from the mere fact that she was a girl at the moment.

Light froze, remembering something. L was supposed to be too hungover for him to not be either sleeping, or puking his ass off. So why it that Light could neither hear the sound of L puking his guts out, nor see L laying on the bed next to her?

A horrible thought crept into Light's head. What if whoever had blocked L's fairy powers had decided that whatever it was they were trying to do with Light's consort was taking too long, and they decided to take advantage of L's inebriated state to kidnap him? After all, if they were able to bind a second generation Fairy, then he or she had to be very powerful. But Light had thought that the apartment would be nearly impenetrable, what with the wards they always set up...

Light began trying to figure out what went wrong with the wards, before realizing something. Watari probably had L with him, and was just trying to find out what was going on. After all, the man _had_ raised L, along with Roger, since the inventor had found the two of them, starving on the streets. The man probably saw L as his son, and wanted to make sure that L wasn't making some sort of mistake. What Light wanted to know was why the old man (Rich, coming from her, but Light studiously avoided that thought.) would choose the morning that L would have a hangover of massive proportions for his interrogation day.

Light sighed. No matter how she thought it through, something was screwy with the fact that L had disappeared, despite how low his alcohol tolerance must be. Either it came out sounding totally retarded, and like she was an idiot, or it came out sounding weak and like she was only trying to convince herself of something that was obviously _not_ true.

Light resolved to puzzle out the answer. Later. She was emotionally distressed about the fact that she had become a woman again, and really should focus on that before she started even _thinking_ of trying to find L.

Light began indulging herself in something she had not allowed herself last time she had been a girl: a careful examination of her body to discover exactly _how much_ it had changed.

Five minutes later Light had come to three conclusions/discovered three facts regarding her body at the moment.

One, she was able to manifest her wings in her current body, which did not bode well for her ability to get back the body she'd lived in for the past... _life_ really. She couldn't remember having ever switched bodies, so she was just going to count the past seventeen years.

Two, she had officially decided that, until she was able to shed the breasts and the other parts, she was going to use female pronouns, just because it would be less confusing that way. The breasts being more visible than the male parts, after all.

Three, she officially had no clue what the hell was going on, but she was betting that it had something to do with the new bio-gas one of the factions had used at the Falling Seraphim a few days ago.

Sighing, Light realized she had nothing to do. Normally, she'd go and prank Tokyo, but that was no fun unless there was someone for her to prank with, and no one other than Aryn was going to be up anytime soon, (Matt preferring to sleep in huge amounts when he had an excuse, despite not being affected by hangovers due to a quickened metabolism, and Mello having a metabolism only slightly faster than a normal human's.) and Aryn would want to stay with Near. She supposed she could do something with the Shinigamis, but there was really nothing to do regarding Kira, and Light wasn't really comfortable just hanging out with two creatures who depended on other creatures' life forces to live.

Then Kina burst into her room, and jumped Light, whimpering in distress for her bonded.

"Kina?" Light asked incredulously, unable to believe that she'd completely forgotten about Kina, of all Beings.

"Kina sorry, Light! Kina should help, but Kina afraid! Kina no want be killed! Bad-man-who-intrude too strong! And- And- AND KINA NOT STRONG ENOUGH HELP!" THe man-sized almost-wolf was hysterical, and Light couldn't really tell what she was trying to say.

"Kina, calm down." Kina refused to calm down, shaking her muzzle and whining.

"KINA SO SORRY, LIGHT!"

"Kina, I have no idea what you're apologizing for. I need you to calm down so you can tell me what happened." Light said firmly, grabbing Kina's muzzle and holding her snout shut. Gradually, Kina calmed down. Finally, she stopped trying to wail recriminations past Light's hand, and Light cautiously let go of Kina's muzzle. "Now. Kina, please tell me what's got you so upset."

Kina looked at Light with tears shining in her lupine eyes. "Kina sorry Light. Kina not able help. Old man come in Light-room, hit Light-L. Light-L sleep and Old man take Light-L. And Kina not strong enough help Light-L! Old man VERY strong."

Light stared at Kina in shocked disbelief. Could she possibly be saying what Light thought she was saying?

"Kina... Are you sure?" Light asked carefully, not wanting to hurt her bonded's feelings, but needing to be sure that what Kina was saying was true. "You're sure you didn't misunderstand or something?"

Kina shook her head violently. "Kina know what Kina see! Kina saw old man make Light-L go sleep, take Light-L away!"

Light fell backwards onto her bed again, mind running through the possibilities.

Who could possibly get through the wards on the building that Light had erected during her confinement? (Hey, she hadn't had anything else to do but talk to L, and L couldn't talk during the day when the task force was there.) No one, except for those either L or herself allowed. Aryn, Matt, Mello and Near had been able to get in because it honestly never occurred to Light to not let them have access. But Light couldn't think of any 'old men' she'd have allowed access. Maybe it was someone L had let in? But L was even more anti-social than Near, and that was an accomplishment.

Light began mentally running through a list of everyone she was aware of L bringing into the case. There was Matsuda, who was far too young to be called an old man, and Kina already came up with a name for him anyway. Ditto for Mogi and Aizawa. Too young to be old. Misa was part of the Court, and a girl to boot. That left... Soichiro and Watari.

Both were old (At least by Kina's reckoning. For a wolf who spent the most time in a society of people who didn't begin to wrinkle until they were at least more than a century old, anyone with wrinkles qualified as old. And if they had severe wrinkles, like Watari? Then they were _old_). Both had access to the building, granted by L. Both did know where in the schematic of the building the apartment was. And, Light realized, she had seen neither of them in more than seventy-two hours. Who knew what they had been doing in that time?

So, basically, the person who had kidnapped L was either her adopted father, or his. Damn. What a choice. Either Light decided to believe that she had been fooled by Soichiro for seven years, and he had been biding his time until something like this happened (And that sounded utterly ridiculous, even in her head. What sort of sick freak would predict something like Kira?), or Light decided to believe that Watari had, for some reason, taken an orphan and his (sort of) caretaker/mentor in off of the streets with less than perfect intentions, bound L's Fairy half on L's twelfth birthday, and then waited a further thirteen years before taking any sort of hostile action. _That she was aware of._ Who knew what Watari might have done to L in the years since he had taken him in?

Damn... she sounded like a freaking conspiracy theorist. But it was one of the two men, and Light had to figure things out. Soichiro wouldn't have had the opportunity to get to L thirteen years ago to seal away his Fairy half, even presuming that Soichiro had somehow hidden the fact that he wasn't human from the five most powerful beings in the Realm for several years.

So it was Watari. By process of elimination, L had been kidnapped by his second surrogate father. (Not that Watari had any idea how deep L's feelings for him went. Random conversations in the middle of the night while Light was in the cell, when Light couldn't get to sleep, and L didn't have anything to do, led to Light learning rather a lot about how L worked.) Odin, when L woke up and sobered up, he was going to be destroyed.

"Light?" Kina asked. "Light okay?"

Light smiled sadly, petting the top of Kina's head. "Why wouldn't I be fine? After all, I've just discovered I'm now a hermaphrodite, my boyfriend was kidnapped, most likely by the man he views as an adoptive father, and, to top it off, the war heating up, and there's a damn good chance that one of the other Courts is actually going to wise up and realize that if they team up against us, we'll be eradicated. What possible reason could I have to not be okay?"

Kina huffed. "Light no need sarcasm. Kina understand."

Light sighed, burying her head in Kina's ruff and beginning to cry softly. "Everything is just piling up too much, too quickly. More than a thousand years are finally catching up to me."

Kina sighed, wishing she could help her - master? mistress? Kina wasn't too sure anymore. - deal with this hurt. Despite Kina's speech, she was actually really smart, and just chose to sound like an idiot. But she had no idea how to help a reincarnated former Seraphim deal with the fact that she had become a hermaphrodite on the same day that her new Consort (With whom she hadn't even _consorted_! Kina was amazed at Light's restraint.) had been kidnapped by his father for bad reasons.

Light gasped as she felt a strange pain in her chest for a moment, thinking for a moment she was beginning to to experience a heart attack. Light stared vaguely at her chest, trying to find the source of the pain. Not a sign of the fact that something felt like it was tearing her ribcage apart, slowly and painfully, could be found on her unmarred chest. A back part of her brain noted how odd it was that she was already used to the fact that she now had breasts, given the fact that she had only had them for a few hours, and a day before that. She also heard yelling from outside of her room, but didn't bother to pay attention, thinking it didn't concern her. That opinion was changed when Matt burst into her room, yelling.

"....WITH YOU?!?!? DUMBASS! DO YOU _WANT_ YOUR TWIN TO _DIE_ BECAUSE WE DIDN'T CATCH SOME SIDE-EFFECT OF THAT DAMNED BIOGAS? WE HAVE TO START TESTING IMMEDIATELY!"

Aryn followed Matt into the room, eyes red with anger.

"JACKASS! SURE, LIGHT'S A HERMAPHRODITE NOW, BUT LIGHT NEEDS TIME TO ADJSUT BEFORE WE START TESTING TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING THAT GAS DOES IS OVER WITH! BY THE WAY, IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN, EVERYONE BUT NEAR WAS EXPOSED TO THE GAS! WHY WOULD LIGHT BE THE ONLY ONE TO GET AFFECTED?"

Light cleared her throat, to try and get the bickering duo's attention. She failed.

"I DON'T KNOW! BUT THAT'S WHAT WE NEED TO FIND OUT! WHETHER LIGHT'S DONE CHANGING, AND IF THE REST OF US ARE NEXT! THAT'S EXACTLY WHY I NEED TO START TESTING HIM!"

Light glared at the ceiling, trying to decide if she _really_ wanted to make her throat sore by yelling at the idiot genius and her dyslexic twin. She was, paradoxically, grateful to the two for giving her a distraction from the worsening pain in her chest.

"LIGHT IS NOT AN ODIN-DAMNED LAB RAT! SO NO, NO WAY IN HELL ARE YOU GOING TO GET TO PERFORM ANY 'TESTS' ON HER!" Aryn screamed back.

Light decided she could deal with a sore throat if it kept her from going deaf, even though one would think she'd be used to it by now. Light stood up and took a deep breath, readying herself for the task of shouting down the loudest member of L-5, and Matt in mother-hen mode.

"DUMBASSES! FIRST OF ALL, STOP YELLING ABOUT ME LIKE I'M NOT EVEN IN THE ROOM, OR LIKE I'M SUDDENLY AN IDIOT JUST BECAUSE I'M HALF-GIRL NOW! SECOND, WE HAVE BIGGER PROBLEMS THAN WHAT OTHER CHANGES MIGHT HAPPEN TO ME, OR EVEN WHY I CHANGED THE WAY I DID!" Light yelled at Aryn and Matt, tears beginning to gather in her eyes. (And damn did Light hate feeling so weak and emotional, but she couldn't help it. Probably the fact that she now had female hormones, as well as male hormones, traveling around in her body.) Matt and Aryn stopped yelling at each other to look at Light in shock. Light ignored their shock as she stood up and continued to yell. "L HAS BEEN GODDAMNED _KIDNAPPED_! NOW IS _NOT_ THE TIME TO BE RUNNING TESTS ON ME TO MAKE SURE I'M OKAY!"

Suddenly, the pain in Light's chest stopped. What replaced said pain, however, was not for the better.

Light gasped in shock as she felt herself get swallowed in an overwhelming feeling of _aloneness_, despite the fact that nothing had visibly changed. Kina was still there, and so were the two semi-humans. But still, it felt like something that was an integral part of her had been ripped away. Always having had her twin, Light didn't know how to deal with such an overwhelming feeling of solitude. Mindlessly, she grabbed Aryn tightly, before falling unconscious, unknowing of the fact that, somewhere in a pocket dimension the Yarau had created, L was doing the same thing, though surrounded by far less caring beings.  


* * *

L stirred slightly, his head pounding. The last thing he remembered was waking up (Ironic, given the fact that he was waking up at the moment.) and feeling like something had gone missing before needing to vomit and rushing to the bathroom. That didn't explain why he was lying prostrate and bound on what felt like a stone floor. Mercifully, his hangover seemed to have disappeared, so L no longer felt like his head was being pounded at with a jackhammer. He wasn't sure the sharp pain centered at the base of his neck was really any better though.

How had he ended up like this? L began to review what few things he could remember happening so far that day. He'd woken up, realized he was dealing with a hangover, and run to the bathroom so he could vomit. Then Watari had called his name, L responded, Watari presumably came into the bathroom... and then L's mind went blank. He'd woken up as he was now. What had Watari done to him? For there was no way that that voice had come from anyone but Watari.

"It looks like the half-Fairy is finally awakening," an eerie chorus of voices sounded from L's left. L's eyes automatically shot open to look around the room, trying to find the sources.

Five cowled, misshapen figures met his eyes, looming over his prone body. L attempted to flinch backwards, only to be stopped by restraints around his wrists and ankles.

"Quillsh may have hit our guest slightly too hard. He should have awakened at least half an hour ago," another chorus struck up on the left. L turned, and found another group of five cowled figures staring down at him from the other side.

"Enough chatter!" the first chorus snapped impatiently, stepping forward. "We _must_ retrieve the juvenile Kainai from within the half-Fairy. Even if it is not fully developed, it should be able to act sufficiently like him to fool the Court."

One of the cowled beings reached forward and hooked something invisible with its finger. L felt a sharp jerk within him. Slowly, as the being pulled at whatever it had hooked, L felt something within him tear in two, growing more excruciatingly painful by the second. Just as the last threads separated, and L thought he'd go mad from the pain, L felt a pair of extra appendages burst from his back. Vaguely, he saw a figure phase into being in front of him.

And then, for the second time that morning, L's world went black.

* * *

Question for the readers: How many of you remembered about the traitor from Wammy's thing I brought up several chapters ago? More to the point, how many of you expected it to be _Watari_ of all people?

Also, how many of you sincerely hate me at the moment for making L get kidnapped?

Happy New Year and please review!

I am ashamed to admit that I no longer have any drabbles to post under the title of omake. So, unfortunately, no more omakes, unless someone wants to send one to me.


	24. Mello’s Fears and Near’s Rude WakeUp

Disclaimer: Nope. I do own a scooter with a dumb warning label though. "Warning: This product moves when used." It's a freaking scooter, I should very well hope it does! Dumbasses today...

Oh yeah, I don't own Hanamaru Udon. Apparently it's a real restaurant in Japan. Just figured I'd better say that.

Also, the atomic combinations I put in down where Matt's explaining Light's condition? Yeah, far as I know, they can't occur naturally in this world. Which makes them perfect for my use.

* * *

**Chapter 24 - Mello's Fears and Near's Rude WakeUp**

* * *

Mello groaned in agony as a fear-filled shriek sounded from somewhere off to his left. "Fucking ass," Mello bitched into his pillow. "S'too damn early to be screaming like that, less there's a _major_ attack going on, and even then they deserve to die a slow and painful death."

Mello would have kept on like this for a while longer, had his hungover mind not realized that Matt was no longer next to him, and Mello _distinctly_ remembered falling into bed with Matt after they had both gotten themselves thoroughly hammered. He didn't think anything had happened though. Point was, Matt wasn't next to him anymore. That, at least, warranted examination in Mello's mind. Matt was first on his list of priorities, followed shortly by the rest of L-5, and he supposed the rest of the non-humans after that. But Mello digressed. Matt came first, and even a hangover couldn't stop Mello from finding Matt.

Mello fully acknowledged that ranking _hangover_ higher than _multiple magical armies that are intent on wiping out all living things within several miles radius_ on a danger meter was just plain insane, but Mello didn't care. Besides, the hangovers hurt more.

Mello staggered out of bed and towards the door, balance utterly shot thanks to the alcohol still in his system, but too intent on finding his Matt to care.  


* * *

Five minutes later, Mello was frustrated out of his mind, and no closer to having any idea where Matt might be. He'd come across Near, looking even worse than Mello felt as he slept off his own hangover, and he'd chanced upon Sayu and Misa, discussing something very important by the looks of things. (Little did he know, it was the importance of the proper hair care and makeup application, with Misa trying to teach Sayu. It was failing so far.) But still no Matt. The only place that he hadn't checked was the medical room, but why would Matt be in there? He almost never needed to be in there, at least not for his own sake, and Mello didn't think there was really any chance of anyone else having gotten injured enough during the party to require Matt's help.

Then Mello remembered that scream earlier - he still didn't know who that was - and mentally revised that opinion. There was actually a rather large chance that Matt was in the medical room, taking care of whoever had yelled like that.

Mello carefully opened the door to the medical room, not sure what to expect on the other side. When dealing with magic, one could never quite be sure.

It was relatively calm this time, compared to some of the other colorful experiences that had occurred. None of them knew how the frigging daisies had started following them around and taking root in the fridge, and no one was sure they really wanted to. There was no wildly whipping magic trying to destroy everything in the room (Aryn after a _very_ bad flashback. Thankfully, she was getting better and flashbacks were rare now.), no spires of floor shooting up in the air (Near, no one quite knew why he had wigged out.), no flames raging wildly (Mello himself.), no instant freezing sensation and fog (Matt, the only time he had _ever_ truly wigged out.). There was a rather uncomfortable sensation at the back of his mind, which Mello attributed in part to the hangover he was forcing back at the moment, and partly to the fact that it was Light who was wigging out. At least, he assumed that was Light, given the fact that the figure being hovered over by both Aryn and Matt looked like Light had looked while he had been a she the other day. But wasn't that thing over and done with? So why was Light a chick again?

Matt turned around, hearing the door open and saw Mello in the door. He walked over and pulled Mello into the room, so that Mello would stop letting out the carbon dioxide. "Hey Mel," he said softly.

Mello frowned, looking over Matt's shoulder at Light's prone form on the table. "What's wrong with him?" Mello asked. "I heard a scream, and couldn't find any of you three." There were times that Mello _really_ hated having such destructive abilities as he did. He was completely incapable of healing another Being, or even an animal. So, when something _big_ happened, like the younger two of L-5 growing their animal attributes for the first time on their separate birthdays... or whatever was happening at the moment.

Matt sighed. "We're really not sure yet. All we know is that Light woke up, a true hermaphrodite. He- she- whatever- is apparently on her period. I wanted to test her, to make sure nothing else was going to happen, but Aryn got protective. You know how bad she gets when someone _really_ riles her up. We ended up in a screaming match in Light's bedroom. Light screamed at us both, told us that L has apparently been kidnapped, froze for a moment while staring at nothing, then grabbed onto Aryn and screamed, before falling unconscious. Aryn and I got her in here, and are now trying to figure out what's going on."

Mello froze. "L's been... kidnapped?" All the things that had been said over the past few days, both in front of L and to him, flashed in front of his eyes. Too much, too much. More than anyone else in the world knew bout them. Lies and misdirections, outright deceptions, omissions of the highest order, that was the way they'd explained it to everyone else in the past, but because Light chose L as his - her - consort, they'd been truthful. And now, whoever had kidnapped L had access to all of that. If they got L to break. Which, Mello admitted, was far too likely. It was easy to break a man if one knew how. And it'd be even easier if whoever had kidnapped him had been the one that caused the presence in L's head, because then they could probably get that presence _out_ and learn everything that way.

"Has Aryn thought about the possible implications of this?" Mello asked softly. Matt shook his head.

"Right now she's more worried about Light. She hasn't really had a chance to process what Light said. I think she might be shutting it out. She might be a political genius, but you know how she's always been about blocking certain things off of her mind outside of the Court."

Mello slumped slightly. "I think it's because of what those bastards did to her while she and Light were being held hostage."

Matt smiled sadly. "Probably. Then again, we're not really ones to talk, yeah? We have just as many problems."

Mello chuckled bitterly. "We're quite a group, aren't we? We do our best to shove our respective traumas to the back of our minds and act our age - maybe younger - one moment, and then we fall apart the next. You grew up on the streets because your mom didn't want the child of her rapist, my father abused my mother to the point where she committed suicide, trying to take him and me with him, Near's just Near and Aryn and Light have as many problems as the rest of us combined."

Matt hugged Mello tightly. "Hey, you know we're getting through all our baggage. Together. What we really need to worry about are how to get Light awake again, cause she/he isn't wanting to wake up for some reason, and how to find out where L's been taken and get him the hell out of there. Preferably without bringing the wrath of whichever faction might have him down on us, with our currently lower than stellar strength."

Aryn noticed Matt ad Mello standing in the doorway at that moment. "OI JACKASSES! IN CASE YOU TWO HAVE FORGOTTEN, LIGHT'S OUT COLD ON THIS TABLE, AND WE HAVE NO DAMNED CLUE WHY! SO KINDLY STOP WHISPERING SWEET NOTHINGS INTO EACH OTHER'S EARS AND MATT GET YOUR ASS OVERR HERE WHILE MELLO GOES AND ORDERS US TAKE-OUT SINCE NO ONE WHO APPEARS TO BE WAKING UP ANYTIME SOON CAN COOK!"

"I love the girl as a surrogate sister, but does she have to be so loud?" Matt muttered plaintively to the sky as he returned to the table to keep running tests on Light.

Mello glared at Aryn. "Dammit, like you and Near weren't just as bad, if not _worse_ when you guys got together!" Suddenly, Mello got an idea on how to wake Light up.

Aryn ignored the light of understanding in Mello's eyes and sniffed. "Well, at the time, none of our own were laid out cold on the floor, like Light is."

Mello strode forward and leaned down. Light sat up quickly after a moment, looking around wildly in panic, before his/her eyes landed on Mello.

"Not funny, Mello," Light growled. Mello snickered.

"Yeah, well, it woke you up, didn't it?"

Light rolled her eyes, cursing Mello in her head. Just cause she didn't want to allow herself to wake up and acknowledge the ache in her chest - which was still there and hurt like a _bitch_ - Mello thought it was alright to _bite_ her ear? Jackass.

Aryn gaped at Mello. "How'd you do that? We've been trying to wake Light up for the past five minutes or so!"

Mello smirked. "Oh, it was easy. You just have to know which buttons to press, that's all." He turned to Matt. "I'm going to go get some food, since I don't think Light's going to want to cook anytime soon. Not with L having been kidnapped and all." With that, Mello left the room, presumably to find a telephone.

Light rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Odin, is everyone going to insist on talking as if I weren't even in the room today? I swear, just cause I'm a hermaphrodite now, everyone seems to think I'm deaf!"

Aryn rolled her eyes, patting Light on the head condescendingly. "It's just cause we don't know whether to call you a she, a he, or a he-she. So, if you'd please clear that up for us, we'll start actually talking like you're in the room."

Light scoffed. "That's all? Well then, why hasn't that sort of thing ever worked in the past when you all start talking like I'm not in the room? And I've decided to go by she and other female pronouns, simply because the female parts are the more visible parts, and therefore it will lead to less confusion to refer to me as a female."

Matt sighed, face-palming. "Light, we don't really do that anymore. Now, lay back down. I want to run some of these tests again while you're conscious to tell me how your body is reacting."

Light huffed but complied with Matt's directions. When Matt went into either mother hen mode or doctor mode is was best to comply with his wishes, as doing otherwise led to things getting... messy... rather quickly.

Matt began mumbling to himself, poking and prodding at Light with his magic and occasionally asking Light a question.

Light quickly got bored and began to count tiles on the ceiling, before remembering that L had been kidnapped, presumably by Watari if one were to trust what Kina said. Which Light did. Kina was an alternate facet of his personality, and therefore part of him - even if she _did_ have her own body.

Light began running through everything she knew about Watari - from L, during and after her confinement, her own observations and Matt's insistence on hacking Wammy House's mainframe. It wasn't much, and not a single piece of it so much as _hinted_ at the possibility that Watari might not care for L as a son. Which made Light's self-imposed mission just that much harder. Joy.

* * *

"Found the asshole!" Mello muttered triumphantly. After having ordered some food from Hanamaru Udon, one of the few restaurants in Tokyo (Even among fast food restaurants, they made _waves_.) that they had not been summarily banned from (and thus the only one that they dared order out from), Mello had decided to check the video feeds for evidence of what Light said, that L had been kidnapped. There might not have been any cameras in the apartment anymore, but the camera feeds throughout the building were still active. So, Mello was skimming through the video of the last twelve hours, and had noticed a slight flicker on one of the screens. Mello pounced on said flicker, and was able to enhance the image quality just enough that he was able to make out a human shaped figure with a body slung over its back.

Just because Matt was the _best_ with computers didn't mean Mello was absolutely hopeless. And he was able to do that much at the very least. Unfortunately, neither Mello nor the video quality was good enough to be able to make out more than a vague outline of the kidnapper. But that vague outline was enough for him to follow out of the building and into the alley next to the building. There, the outline disappeared, and Mello spent several minutes trying to figure out where the frick the kidnapper had gone.

Then he realized that there was most likely a Rip, one of the space-time portals that were used to transfer between Realms, located there. Though, Mello would have thought that _someone_ would notice a tear in the space-time continuum _right next to them._ Well, that was a mystery that would have to wait until later to be solved. Preferably after rescuing L from his kidnapper, given all that L knew about L-5.

* * *

Matt sighed, sitting down across from Light, having kicked Aryn out shortly after Mello left. He _really_ wanted to have either some coffee or Mello to comfort him. Things were not looking good about Light's chances of returning to normal, though Matt hoped she'd be able to learn to control her... attributes in time. He looked at Light.

"Well, I have some good news, okay news, bad news, and worse news. How d'you want me to give it to you," Matt asked Light.

Light gulped. "Worst to best. Maybe it won't seem as bad that way."

Matt half-smiled. "C'mon Light, I _know_ changing genders hasn't made you stupid. It'll be just as bad whichever way I give it to you. But okay. Well, the worst news is, this - whatever this is - seems to be permanent. The female organs are just as much a part of you as the male organs are. They're even part Angel, something that I wouldn't have thought possible, given that Angel genes are so vastly different from anything else to be found on Earth. Or not on Earth, as the case may be. The point being, to anyone who didn't know you before, you may as well have been born with boobs and a womb."

Light sighed crossly, folding her arms and glaring at the ground. "Just perfect. I'm a hermaphrodite permanently now. What's the just plain bad news?"

Matt laughed. "So impatient! Calm down, Light, it's not like the facts are gonna change just cause I take five minutes instead of ten to tell you."

Light frowned. "Dammit! I _know_ that, dumbass! Problem is, my L got kidnapped,_ from our apartment,_ and I have no clue where he is. I want to find my L. But I can't do that until you're done telling me what that _damned_ gas did to me! SO HURRY UP AND TELL ME!"

Matt gulped nearly silently, leaning back in his chair slightly. Light wasn't even fully female, and yet she was scarier than any other female he'd met. And he had seen Aryn PMS'ing. And Aryn was worse than the other Councils, _combined_. So, Matt was understandably cowed by Light at the moment.

"Well, the just plain bad news is that it was the biogas that sapped you and Aryn's powers a couple of days ago that did this, and the biogas appears to be a compound of Na2AsLi, only formed in the hottest regions of Hell, and Ra2C, also only found in Hell. As near as I can tell, it was intended to forcibly change an Angel into a human, however your genes are already partly human, so it's purpose changed entirely. It seems to have activated some half-formed possibility in your genes, and made you a hermaphrodite. I'm currently not sure as to why Aryn did not suffer from the same effect, but I would have to guess that the fact that she was able to hold onto her powers for long enough to keep the larger portion of the gas away from her, thereby resulting in a smaller dose of the gas for her. Mello and I didn't suffer because the gas is entirely benign, until it detects the presence of Angel DNA."

Light sighed, rolling her eyes skyward. "It figures. Karma is a goddamn bitch. I wasn't even the one who actually killed all those criminals, why the hell am I the one the crappy karma attached itself to?" She turned her gaze back to Matt. "And the okay news?"

"That, with time, I'll probably be able to synthesize a preventative to this gas. Unfortunately, the thing that makes this only okay news... is that an antidote doesn't appear to be possible," Matt admitted, sighing unhappily for his friend. Light was right. Why did crappy karma attach itself to_ her?_ So many other people had done things that, while maybe not as bad as what Light had done in the past, had been done of their own free will. Light had never chosen to do any of the things she'd done.

Light sighed explosively, letting her head fall back to hit the back of the her chair. "Just my luck."

Matt nodded, smiling wryly. "And now the good news. With time, you _might_, I can't make any promises, I just saw the possibility, be able to change your genetic structure so that you have only male or female genitalia."

Light shot up in her seat, turning to stare at Matt. "Did you just say what I think you just said? Holy crap, _please_ tell me you just said that I might be able to make myself be a full guy again! And if you say you're joking I will happily rip out your tongue."

"Yep, you'll probably be able to make certain parts of your body change."

Light shot forward and hugged Matt. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she sobbed. Matt froze.

"Umm... you're welcome?" Matt replied awkwardly patting Light on the back. "I didn't really do anything though."

Light stepped back, wiping her eyes dry. "I'm sorry. I think the fact that I have female hormones now is messing with my emotions. I'm not usually this messed up."

"S'fine." Matt shrugged. "Probably be even more worried if you _weren't_ messed up as hell after this. Now, c'mon. Let's get some brekkie, then we can go about getting your guy back, yeah?"

Light laughed and grabbed Matt's outstretched hand. "Breakfast sounds great."

* * *

Near stirred in his bed as he heard someone throw an _extremely_ hard punch at the wall. Thank Odin for vampiric immune systems sending him into a mini-coma while they dealt with intruders, or Near knew he would've been in pain when the wall of his bedroom shattered and fell to the ground.

He opened his eyes and saw the female version of Light standing there, looking at her fist in surprise with a hint of the anger that must have caused her to punch the wall so hard lingering.

"L-Light? What... Why is the wall knocked in?" Near asked fuzzily. "And why are you a female again?"

Light yelped, and turned her attention to him. "Near! I'm sorry, totally didn't mean o knock in your wall. See, what happened is, L got-"

Aryn cut her sister off. "What Light is trying to say amidst her distressed babbling, is that L has been kidnapped, and we just found out that the trail we found went dead at a traveling Rip that has now moved on. We don't know where the Rip went, or where it led to, so Light is - understandably - upset about her consort having disappeared."

Near nodded, laying his head back down on the pillow. Then what Aryn had said penetrated his brain and he sat up again.

"Please tell me you are kidding."

Aryn shook her head. "Fraid not. L's been kidnapped, and it looks like the only suspect is Watari, who has also disappeared. Soichiro is also missing, but we have video of Watari carrying L through the building."

"I see..." Near sighed, before getting out of his bed. "May I just ask if all of you have forgotten that I am able to follow a wandering Rip for a ways?"

Everyone stared at Near for a moment.

Near rolled his eyes. "I believe I will take that for a yes. Now, if you will kindly remove yourselves from among the remains of the wall so I can fix? I don't particularly wish to get dressed with an audience."

Mutely, everyone took a step backwards. Aside from Aryn, who took a step forward.

"Aryn, if you stay in here while I get dressed, there is no way that I will be able to remain undistracted, and we do want to find L rather soon."

Aryn pouted, but backed out of the room. Near rolled his eyes again as he restructured the atoms of the pieces of the wall to form a whole wall again.

* * *

My line feature is broken. I think, it keeps giving me either doubles or blanks. It's annoying me.

Not a whole lot to say about this one.

Please review? It'll make an author happy, and the author needs it.


	25. Light's Plan and Aryn's Warning

Right, I feel like an idiot. I totally skipped this chapter when I put the other one up. :facepalm: Yeah, I'm still only doing bimonthly updates, but this is too grievous an error to be left festering in the back of my mind until next Friday, so I'm doing it now.

Disclaimer: Nope.

* * *

**Chapter 25 - Light's Plan and Aryn's Warning**

* * *

Near frowned as he pressed his hand harder into the ground, attempting to get a better feel of the residual energy of the Rip that had been there. Or at least, what they had thought was a Rip. The energy was completely different from anything Near had felt before, and he'd felt a lot of Rips. It was almost as if what Watari had used to get away from the headquarters wasn't a Rip at all... but that was impossible. Rips were the _only_ way to get from one dimension to another, and there was no way that someone from this Realm would kidnap Light's consort. No one was that foolish.

At least, no one who had had any sort of contact with Aryn shortly after she had accepted that she had feelings for Near and claimed him as her Consort. Especially not if they'd seen what happened to the one person who decided Near was being fooled by Aryn's greater experience and that she could 'save' him. Near was fairly sure that some of her parts _still_ hadn't been found.

But Near digressed. The point was, this didn't feel like a Rip, but judging by the function they had seen it being put to, there was no way for it to be anything but a Rip. So, now they had a paradox.

Near sighed and went back inside. One genius, who happened to be in dire need of blood (again), was simply not enough to solve a paradox like this one. Four geniuses, one succubus, two Shinigami and one normal human, one the other hand, were almost certain to be able to come up with something.  


* * *

"What acts like a Rip, but cannot actually _be_ a Rip?" Light mused as she stared at the whorls in the table, a half-empty bag of potato chips next to her. They had been trying to solve the paradoxical riddle for almost half-an-hour now, and no one was any closer to actually solving it. Light was feeling discouraged, and was therefore indulging in some good old fashioned comfort food.

"I have a question," Rem stated. All eyes turned to her. "From what has been said about these Rips, they seem to be usable only through inter-dimensional travel. If Quillsh Wammy passed through something that appears to be acting like a Rip from the outside, but cannot actually be a Rip, then is it possible that it was, in fact, a Rip, but simply had not been used for inter-dimensional travel, instead staying in the first Realm?"

Light let her head fall down to the table in shock. Yet _again_ a crucial fact had been forgotten by them! Mythology was rife with tales of portals that allowed instantaneous travel from one place to another, within the same dimension. And all mythology had _some_ basis in reality, no matter how glorified the ugly truth might have become over the years.

Well, there was the fact that non-Flashing instant transport within a Realm was supposed to be impossible, but until recently, it had been thought that Angels were physically incompatible with vampires, and Aryn and Near had very successfully proven _that_ wrong. Human flight had been thought impossible until roughly a century ago. Things that had been thought impossible were being proven that they were, in fact, possible all the time. So they really should have thought of that before.

"How did we not think of that possibility?" Light asked.

Aryn shrugged. "Maybe cause we're too used to thinking inside the bigger box? The one that defines possible and impossible. Might be cause we're tired and stressed from just having captured the worst mass murderer in history? Might even be cause we just plain ain't as smart as the rest of the world thinks we are."

"Screw figuring out how we missed that!" Mello yelled suddenly, standing up. "First priority should be finding L! We don't know what Watari might have planned for him! Hell, we don't even know what faction he's working for! For all we know, he could be planning on torturing L to get information on us from him!"

Light paled. "You... you don't think he'd do something like that to L, do you?" She felt like she was about to be sick at the thought of L being tortured because of something she had done.  
_  
If I hadn't introduced L to his heritage, then..._ Light thought miserably, before Kina picked up on Light's train of thought and dragged Light out of the room to have a serious conversation with her, for once acting as smart as she really was.

"No. Watari would've still been around L, and would still have been _capable_ of kidnapping him. You might have speeded up the process, but you aren't the one who had made Watari not be the father figure that L had thought he was," Kina said. Light started, before smiling at Kina.

"You always know exactly what I'm thinking Kina, even better than Aryn. But, regarding what you said, maybe Watari wouldn't have _had_ to kidnap L if I hadn't started lik-" Kina cut Light's sentence off.

"If you're going to recriminate yourself, at least be honest while doing it. You love him. And you're scared silly that he's been kidnapped because of you." Kina refrained from rolling her eyes. Light wasn't acting like Light right now, and needed to be snapped out of it. As a part of Light in a way no one else in the world was, Kina was the only one who could do that. But Kina would let Light wallow for a little bit longer.

Light smiled wanly. "You're right. Might as well be honest with myself. If I hadn't fallen in love with L while he was doing his damnedest to prove I was Kira."

Kina nodded her furred muzzle as she came to a decision. "Feel at least a little bit better now?"

Light nodded, surprised. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I do. Hm, always thought that everyone saying that talking about your emotions made them easier to deal with was a load of crap."

"Well, there's a difference between just any person, and a person you can trust. And there's an even bigger difference between a person you can trust, and a part of you. But, now that I've let you wallow a bit, and given you a chance to admit how you felt about L, I'm going to do something. You aren't gonna like it, Light, but I'm fairly sure it's necessary right now."

"Okaay then. Kina, I trust your judgment. If you think something is necessary, it's probably necessary."

"Not what you were saying when I was telling you to go ahead and bond with your Consort after you both acknowledged it. You more than him, but still."

"Yeah, that would've gone over real well. 'Hey, we just started a relationship today, and it'll be safer for you if we bond physically now.' Yeah right. I would've got my heart broken again in an instant."

"Have you tried just ranting at someone? Things are changing from what they've ever been before, the Courts are getting more aggressive towards us, the only Consort you have ever taken has been taken from you, and I know you. I _am_ you. You need to talk to someone, before you snap from the pressure and the fear."

"Who'd want to listen to me, a failure who let his - her - _my_ Consort get kidnapped from under my nose, ranting?"

Kina sighed. "Damn it, I was trying to snap you out of this. Now for drastic measures."

Light tilted her head to the side, unsure what Kina meant. Kina transformed to her more humanoid form and smacked Light sharply across the face. Light reeled back, not really able to believe that her Kina had just slapped her.

"What the hell, Kina?!"

Kina shook her head. "I told you you wouldn't like it. Light, you're not acting like the Light I know you are. You're letting your emotions take over you. You're letting yourself angst for crying out loud! Light, this isn't you. I admit that a good portion of it is that you're currently half-woman, but Light, you're not going to be able to help L of you don't _get a hold of yourself! _You have to focus on getting L back."

"I'm trying!" Light yelled, angry. "We don't know anything!"

"That's the point," Kina shot back._"We don't know anything._ You might not have a full-fledged Consort bond with L, but it's strong enough that each of you sort of know how the other is doing. You lost that because of whatever that jackass is doing to him. Now we don't have any idea. For all we know, L is dead now. There's just no way of knowing."

Light stiffened at the thought of L dead, forcing her desire to break down crying, _again_, to the back of her mind. Kina was right, letting herself break down crying at every piece of bad news wasn't like her. She'd thought that she'd cried herself out when she was eleven. It was time for her to dry her tears and go on a vengeful rampage. It was time for Balbdas to come out and play with the poor doomed man who had kidnapped _her_ Consort. And the first order of business was to find out where that temporary not-Rip had led. The best chance of _that_ lay in higher numbers, something that L-5 alone did not possess.

Kina judged that Light had understood what she was saying and taken it to heart, and turned back to her more wolfish form. She walked beside Light as Light swept out of the room, pulling off the high and mighty ruler look quite well.

"Aryn, I think that the best chance we have of getting L back is if we convene the Court and enlist them."

Aryn frowned at Light, unsure. "I dunno, Light, the Court is pretty vicious, and you know most of them don't particularly like being subservient to a bunch of teens. You remember how many times Near was nearly assassinated just after I claimed him. And the Court knew he was almost as powerful as we are. What do you think they'll do to the apparently human L?"

Light tilted her head, acknowledging a valid point. "However, there is a far greater chance that L will die if we don't enlist the Court. I might remind you that we have no idea why he has been kidnapped, and for all we know, it could be to sacrifice him. However, as long as we don't tell the Court why we're trying to find where the not-a-Rip went, it should be at least tolerably safe to use them." Light's eyes hardened. "And if they do find out why we're using them, and hurt L, then I will deal with them."

Aryn realized what was going through Light's head right now. She had dealt with Near being taken away from her for too long too recently after she had chosen him as her Consort, and knew how difficult it was for Light to be forcefully separated from L. There was really no way of stopping Light at the moment. She was on a warpath, and didn't care what happened as long as she got L back.

"If that's what you think best, Light," Aryn sighed.

"You're not seriously going to let her do that, are you?" Mello asked in disbelief after Light had left the kitchen, still with Kina by her side.

"Did you actually look at her?" Near asked. "It would have been futile to attempt to sway Light from her path, so we will simply have to attempt to minimize the damage."

Mello bristled. "Are you saying I'm an idiot?"

"Certainly not. You are the only one who brought any form of mental deficiency up."

Matt sighed. "Can you two _please_ not start? We're kind of out of coffee, and I've used up my pre-coffee mental abilities on making sure Light wasn't hurt by turning into a girl, _again_. I need quiet, or I need coffee. I'm fairly sure Misa and Sayu are in the same boat, possibly worse off than me, and Ryuuk's turning himself into pretzels because, apparently, he hasn't had apples for almost a month. So, someone _seriously_ needs to go shopping. Rem seems to be fine, but I'm sure she doesn't want to listen to you two bicker either."

"Aww... Matty, I'm sorry you don't have any coffee. Tell you what, why don't we go and get some quick, pre-made coffee for you?" Mello suggested as he steered Matt to the door.

Matt shrugged and went along with it. If it got him time alone with Mello, which God knew was in short supply around the apartment, then who was he to argue?

Aryn sighed, pulling Near up with her. "I suppose we should get going. Make sure the Court's building is on and crap. Kuromisa, Ryuuk, Rem, as new subjects of the Court, or... newly reinstated ones, in Kuromisa's case, you're going to be coming with us."

Misa followed Aryn reluctantly, not wanting to leave Sayu alone, but unwilling to offend her ruler either. Sayu, seeing Misa's distress shrugged.

"I'll be fine. There's always something to do. You go on, that sounds more important."

"If you're sure..." Misa trailed off as she turned to leave.

Aryn touched Near's sleeve. Near looked at her, and mentally groaned at the sight of the teasing grin on Aryn's face. "I'm going to be falling back a bit. I wanna give Kuromisa a piece of advice."

"Just don't mentally scar her _too_ much. Even if she _is_ on a path to hurt our sister," Near replied.

"Who me?" Aryn asked.

Aryn slowed down until she was walking beside Misa. "You know, Kuromisa, it's been a long time since I was as young as you are now."

Misa looked at Aryn in confusion. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're saying, Aryn-taichou. Aren't you younger than me?"

Aryn sighed, shaking her head in mock-disappointment. "First thing, don't add taichou onto my name until we're actually in the Court's building. Why we decided on Tokyo I forget, but I'm grateful for it at the moment. Second, you're thinking in terms of physical age. Yes, physically I've just turned eighteen, but mentally I am well over a thousand years old." She turned, and stared straight at Misa. "The point I was trying to make is that I have seen far more of life than you have, Kuromisa. Right now, you are on the rebound from Light. Even if you were the one to end the relationship, you were also the one who felt more deeply for him, even if it was overlaid by the Death Note. Wait a month, maybe two. Then we won't object, even if there is a slight age difference. It's not nearly as bad as some of the other ones that Beings deal with. But right now, if you act, be aware that we view Sayu as our sister, and sibling trumps Court. Just a little piece of advice, from one girl to the other." Aryn smiled and sped up to be walking beside Near.

Misa shivered as she watched Aryn. Was she really on the rebound? If Misa were honest with herself, probably. She _had_ loved Light, even if it was started by that damned Note. She couldn't have gotten over that so quickly. It had been hurting Misa over the past four days, watching Light and L being so sweet and affectionate to each other, seeing how different they acted towards each other from how Light - No, Kira - had acted toward her. But she had also thought that Sayu was cute and sweet before, even overlaid by the second Death Note...

Misa was confused. She decided that it might be in her better interests to just keep her mouth shut during the upcoming meeting, or she just knew she'd have a bad case of fatal foot-in-mouth. Not that it would necessarily be fatal for her, but she didn't want to be responsible for any more deaths than she already was.  


* * *

Near glanced sideways at Aryn. "So, what exactly did you tell Kuromisa? She seems slightly disturbed."

Aryn shrugged. "I just told her the truth. She's on the rebound, and if she waits maybe a month or so, we won't object to her pursuing Sayu. But at the moment, it's entirely possible that Kuromisa would discover she doesn't actually care that much for Sayu, and Sayu would be left broken-hearted."

Near sighed. "How did we get roped into being the ones to untangle the love lives of most of the upper end of the Court?"

Aryn laughed. "Cause we're just awesome like that! Plus we got over ourselves a lot quicker than anyone else did. That makes us uniquely suited to being the love advisers of the Court!"

"But you're supposed to be aloof from the rest of the Court," Near pointed out.

"That's why I always use a very-high strength glamour," Aryn explained.

"There's the building," Near exclaimed gratefully. Aryn could vacillate between insanely smart, and insanely childish and dense in a flicker of an eye, and it really tired Near out occasionally, even if he did love her. (And wasn't Near still trying to figure out how _that_ one had happened!)

* * *

Ryuuk hopped forward next to Rem. "Ya feelin' kinda insignificant too?"

Rem looked at Ryuuk impassively. "I have no clue what you mean."

"Jus' sayin'. The Misa ya fell in love with turned out ta have been a resul' of mass memory loss, combin' with the No'. Now you're dealin' wit' a brand-new Misa, whose very _name_ change' when she go' her mem'ries back. On top o' tha', we've been drafte' inta a serving a new 'master', this Cour', which we still know nothin' abou'. And then, as if all o' tha' weren' enough, no one's paid any attention ta us since Takahashi got bricked up. So, I'll as' again: Ya feelin' kinda insignificant too?"

Rem stared for a moment, before turning away. "When did you get so perceptive?"

Ryuuk laughed. "I've always been, I jus' prefer bein' an idio'. Bu'... It' obvious tha' this is both'rin' ya, so I jus' though' I'd let ya know that ya can talk ta me abou' all this."

Rem smiled slightly. "I think I just might take you up on that at some point. Later, when we're not heading into a meeting with a bunch of beings we don't know."

Ryuuk's already painful grin stretched further. "I wasn' askin' fer anythin' more."

Rem looked away to continue her watching of the semi-humans as they went about opening up a dusty building, apparently for a meeting of this "Court".

* * *

People less confused now? . I seriously don't know hwo that happened folks, I'm sorry.

Please review, even if it's just to tell me what an idiot I am.


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